Waste firm linked with Vaughan Gething donations fined £40,000 for fire safety breaches

A Cardiff waste company, which is part of a group that donated £200,000 to former First Minister Vaughan Gething’s leadership campaign between December 2023 and January 2024, has been fined £40,000 for failing to follow fire safety rules.

Atlantic Recycling Ltd, which operates a waste processing site in the city, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on 6 January after pleading guilty to contravening its environmental permit under regulations governing waste facilities in England and Wales.

The company handles Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) – a highly combustible product made from processed waste.

The court heard that failings at the site increased the risk of a serious blaze, with the location already having suffered major fires in 2014 and 2015.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which brought the prosecution, said inspections in 2019 showed the operator was not following its own legally required Fire Prevention and Mitigation Plan. The breaches included:

Waste piles stored less than the required 12 metres apart

Stockpiles exceeding the four-metre height limit

A quarantine area too small to safely contain emergency waste

Accepting new waste despite having agreed to pause deliveries while safety measures were brought back into compliance

NRW said the firm “cut corners”, failed to maintain fire controls and continued operations even after warnings. The agency noted the site sits close to environmentally sensitive areas as well as residential communities, increasing the potential impact.

Costs

The court imposed a £40,000 fine, ordered Atlantic Recycling to pay £28,000 in costs to NRW, and set a victim surcharge to be confirmed.

Sentencing judge Celia Hughes said it was “fortunate that nothing more serious arose from those breaches”, adding:

“The company ran a risk of causing serious environmental consequences by ignoring its own mitigation plan and the requirements set out by NRW.”

She said she was relieved only permit breaches had been brought before the court, “rather than a more egregious criminal offence” following a fire.

NRW welcomed the ruling. Regina Simmons, Industry Regulation Team Leader, said it demonstrated that non-compliant operators would be held to account.

“These rules exist to protect people, property and the environment from serious risks such as fire,” she said. “Operators must take their responsibilities seriously and manage waste safely and lawfully.”

The level of the fine was set according to judicial guidelines, taking into account harm, culpability and the company’s financial means.

NRW said it continued to monitor the site and that the company had since taken steps to improve compliance.