Recycling firm Greenstar was rebuked today by a District Court judge for creating an odour nuisance and ordered to pay €20,000 towards the cost of a case taken by the Environmental Proection Agency (EPA).
Judge Con O'Leary found that Greenstar Recycling (Munster) Ltd of Sarsfieldcourt Industrial Estate, Glanmire, Co Cork had committed an offence but applied the Probation Act, meaning a conviction was not recorded.
However, he ordered the company to pay €20,000 towards the cost of bringing the prosecution.
Greenstar was granted a waste licence in 2000, which was revised in 2004 for the operation of a non-hazardous waste transfer station located at Glanmire.
This prosecution was taken following what the EPA says was "a significant number of complaints of odour nuisance" between 7th February 2005 and 2nd September 2005 "and numerous site inspections undertaken by the EPA's Office of Environmental Enforcement during that same period".
The EPA welcomed the decision and said the case highlighted the responsibilities of waste firms in relation to the management and prevention of odour nuisance.