Company reacts strongly at decision to close landfill site

Potters Waste Management has reacted strongly to a decision by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to suspend their permit to operate Bryn Posteg landfill site at Llanidloes -  insisting they have complied with guidelines.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) says it has taken action against the Welshpool based operator of the landfill site due to the risk of pollution it poses.

The Bryn Posteg landfill site has been receiving waste for more than 25 years and according to the company’s website contains an estimated 1.5 million tonnes of household/municipal waste. 

Officers from NRW suspended the permit on Friday after evidence showed that the site now holds substantially more waste than is legally allowed.

NRW estimates that the landfill site is also significantly higher in places than permitted.

Both of these are a breach of the operator’s environmental permit.

But Potters Managing Director James Potter is insistent that the company has complied with NRW guidelines.

“All notices and deadlines issued to the site by Natural Resources Wales have been complied with,” he said.

“The company continues to spend significant sums of money, in the region of £2million, to address such issues and we always strive to continually improve our operations.

“The company always works with the regulator to ensure that the site is compliant with its permit conditions and this will continue.

“The site continues to be open to our customers for waste reception within the MRF, waste received will then be transported off site to one of our alternative disposal points.”  

As a result of the permit removal Potters Waste Management, one of Wales’ largest waste operators, are not allowed to tip any more waste in the landfill.

Every landfill site needs an environmental permit from NRW to operate. This details how the operator will manage the site to minimise the impact on air, land and water in the area.

NRW has now instructed the company to examine the potential risk that this waste poses.

Last year NRW applied other legal measures, such as serving legal notices on the operator, in an attempt to make the site compliant with its permit conditions.

David Powell, Operations Manager for Natural Resources Wales, said: “We try to work with operators of landfill sites wherever we can to make sure they protect the environment by complying with the conditions in their permit.

“We now have evidence that Bryn Posteg Landfill site contains significantly more waste than it is permitted to do so.

“The decision to stop waste being disposed of in the landfill is a last resort, but there is a risk to the surrounding environment as a result of over-tipping.

“Waste sites have a permit setting out rules which they have to follow so they don’t pose a risk to the environment and local people.

“We have given the company every opportunity to comply with the conditions in their permit but they have not done this.”

Under the terms of their environmental permit Potters Waste Management can tip up to 75,000 tonnes of waste at Bryn Posteg every year and this must be treated in a very specific way within an engineered area.