Illegal landfill owner hit with $100,000 fine

The owner of an illegal landfill who continued to dump waste against Environment Court orders has been fined $100,000.

Judge Jeremy Doogue fined Kenneth Campbell $25,000 on each of four charges.

Campbell was charged with dumping waste, dumping waste on land where it could run into water and two charges of breaching enforcement orders.

The charges related to his 111ha site at Glen Afton, 16km southwest of Huntly.

Judge Doogue told the Hamilton District Court on Friday that Campbell had developed three uses for the land: farming, continuation of open-cast mining and a business recycling and demolishing materials.

In 1999, he was granted limited resource consent to allow him to sort and recycle materials. The following year the amount of material allowed to be dumped was increased, but was only to be dumped on a concrete slab.

Last year, permission was finally granted to use the area as a landfill, but with conditions. The council had already become concerned that dumping on the landfill was occurring in larger volumes than allowed.

But earlier, in November 2002, the Environment Court had issued orders that no more landfill was to be dumped on the site. Dumping had continued regardless.

Campbell's lawyer, Philip Morgan, said his client had not caused great harm because he had been carrying out a landfill which he later received consent for.

But Judge Doogue criticised Campbell for continuing to let trucks on to the site without the necessary consents.

"Once in the landfill, it's essentially there forever," he said. "That makes it doubly necessary to get it right."

He said Campbell was headstrong and determined to continue with the landfill despite opposition.

Judge Doogue decided by "a narrow margin" not to send Campbell to jail, but imposed a fine, taking into account that the landfill had the potential to operate for the next 40 years, which even his counsel acknowledged was worth "millions".

He ordered Campbell to pay $40,000 of the fine by March and the balance by June.

- NZPA