Gething-row waste firm fined £40,000

A CONTROVERSIAL recycling firm which donated £200,000 to a leadership campaign of a former First Minister has been fined £40,000 for a breach of an environmental permit.

- By PHILIP DEWEY and CONOR GOGARTY

‘The company has also been ordered to pay almost £30,000 in court costs.Cardiff-based Atlantic Recycling Ltd, run by David Neal, 65, came to national attention after donating £200,000 to the Labour leadership campaign of Vaughan Gething. Due to Mr Neal’s history of environmental offences, the donation caused public outrage and ultimately led to Mr Gething resigning as First Minister just 118 days after taking up the position.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday heard Atlantic Recycling Ltd breached its environmental permit in July 2019 by storing refuse-derived fuel -- a highly combustible form of waste -- at its site in Newton Road, Rumney, in a manner that risked “major environmental harm”.

A spokesperson from Natural Resources Wales said: “Evidence showed huge stockpiles, including one estimated at 90 metres long, the largest seen by the regulator. In the event of fire, the site lacked space to break up and isolate burning waste, increasing risk of spread.”