A vintage clothes business in Camelford has been ordered to pay more than £1,500 for failing to provide the correct documents to show it had disposed of waste correctly.  

Paul Woodcock, proprietor of ‘The Really Groovy Shop’ and ‘2 Groovy’, pleaded guilty to failing to provide waste transfer notes as requested by Cornwall Council when he appeared before Bodmin Magistrates Court on August 1.  

Waste transfer notes are legal documents to show a company has passed waste onto a business which has the appropriate licence to collect waste. 

The council offered to discharge the offence through a Fixed Penalty Notice but because the defendant did not respond and failed to put a waste contract in place the matter proceeded to court. 

Woodcock was fined £440 which included credit for an early guilty plea. He was also ordered to pay £892 for legal costs and a surcharge of £176. 

There is a legal responsibility (Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990) on a business to: 

Make sure their waste is stored correctly and does not escape their control. 

Only give their waste to an authorised person (a waste disposal company that can legally take it). 

Make sure a written record of the waste is kept every time the waste is passed to a waste disposal company. 

Businesses affected include retail, holiday rentals as well as manufacturing, agriculture, and processors.  

Councillor Martyn Alvey, Cornwall’s portfolio holder for environment and climate change, said:

“Some businesses may think their waste can be treated in the same way as household waste and be collected by us. This is not correct. 

“Any waste created in a business premise or by a business is ‘commercial waste’ and its collection and disposal must be paid for separately by the business. Businesses, including self-catering properties, should have an appropriate contract in place with a registered waste carrier. The council offers this service or there are alternative providers operating in Cornwall.”