By Safira Ali

Last updated 12:29, Wednesday, 30 April 2008

A WORKINGTON fruit and veg shopkeeper has been fined £300 for dumping his rotting vegetables on a compost heap.

Public support: Colin Glaister, of the Fruit and Veg shop on Oxford Street, Workington, fined by Allerdale Council

Colin Glaister, owner of the Fruit and Veg shop on Oxford Street, was fined by Allerdale Borough Council after he failed to produce a notice stating how he gets rid of his waste.

He was told it was illegal for him to put his vegetables on a compost heap and cardboard on a household recycling site without a waste transfer note.

By law, the notice has to be produced by a business whenever trade waste is transferred from a business premises to a registered waste carrier or waste disposal operator.

Mr Glaister, 26, of Salterbeck said the first he heard about the need for a note was when he got the fine.

He said: “The council said it was because the waste had not been disposed of properly. I said; ‘it’s all recycled’. How do you get fined for recycling your rubbish?

“They told me I was breaking the law and that I was supposed to hire a bin off the council. They will empty the bins once a fortnight. That will cost me about £5 a time.

“A £300 fine for recycling waste out of the shop is unfair. Everyone says you should recycle and do your bit. I take all my cardboard to Smurfits. All my fruit and vegetables go on the garden compost heap.

“We don’t waste them. My uncle takes the cabbages and feeds them to his chickens. I put the potatoes on the compost heap and it goes back into the land.

“But the council says I am not allowed to do that.

“When I asked them what would happen to all my rubbish I was told it would all go to the landfill.”

Mr Glaister said he was angry about the fine because he was not fly tipping.

“If I loaded my van up and disposed of it I would deserve it,” he added. “I am mad that I have been done for recycling.” He said although he has now applied for a bin, he has also written a letter of appeal to the council.

He said: “I think I have been treated unfairly. I said I am sorry I broke the law.

“I didn’t realise at the time I could do that by recycling,” he added.

“I have been told it is illegal to take the waste off my premises by moving it in my van.

“My bin is going to get emptied every fortnight. The rubbish will be left in my bin for two weeks during the summer. Who wants to smell rotting vegetables every day in the hot weather?”

Mr Glaister’s fine came after Gareth Corkhill, of Mirehouse, Whitehaven, attracted national attention after he overfilled his bin.

He was fined £225 when he left the lid raised by four inches.

An Allerdale Council spokeswoman said under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 business owners must show how they dispose of their waste. If they fail to do this they will be issued with a fixed penalty notice. She said that workers at the shop were warned three times before the fine was dished out.

She said Mr Glaister was visited on April 3 and failed to produce the necessary legal documentation.

Officers wrote on April 10 advising of a visit on April 21 at which the documentation would be required.

“The proprietor still failed to provide the necessary legal notice and was therefore issued with a fixed penalty notice,” she added.

“The proprietor has since arranged a contract for waste disposal with the necessary documentation.”

She said it was not the council’s intention to fine people. “The idea is to encourage them to think about who they give their waste to and not to simply choose the cheapest option or dump their rubbish.”