ENVIRONMENTAL protection officers are reminding local businesses of their responsibilities after a firm was fined for two waste charges.

On Friday, Stevens Industrial Services, of Littleburn Industrial Estate, Langley Moor, Durham City, was fined £400 by magistrates in Bishop Auckland and ordered to pay £900 costs after pleading guilty to two counts under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

In March, Environment Agency officers discovered controlled waste, including aerosol cans containing welding oil, plastic wrapping and pallets, left at Waterloo Plantation, near Sedgefield.

The firm claimed that the waste had been handed over to a scrap metal merchant who was assumed to have subsequently fly-tipped it.

In mitigation, it was pointed out that this was the company's first offence in 22 years and, once alerted, the company had taken responsibility to clear the site, with some staff giving up their own time to clear the waste.

After the hearing, James Parker, environment management team leader with the agency, said: "Any person or business producing waste has a legal duty to insure it is disposed of properly, that it is taken away by authorised carriers and disposed of at authorised sites.

"The Environment Agency will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who breaks the law on waste, whether they produce the waste or dispose of it."