Company director has 'no money' to remove 4,350 tonnes of illegal waste from Glasgow site

A company director claims he has no money to remove up to £578,000 of illegal waste from a site.

Joseph Boyle, 54, flouted a licence condition set on him by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).

Boyle – who owns firm Altan Skip Hire – amassed up to 4,350 tonnes of waste, which is more than four times his set limit of 1,000 tonnes.

However, it emerged at a court hearing that Boyle does not have the finances to clear the rubbish from his leased site in Glasgow’s Polmadie.

Boyle pleaded guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to two charges of breaching the Environmental Protection Act.

The first charge states that Boyle had waste which exceeded 1,000 tonnes and the second charge says that he deposited controlled waste without a waste management licence.

The offences span from November 2020 to June 2025.

The court heard that the company was initially granted a licence to treat, keep, or dispose of controlled waste on the site.

It emerged in February 2017 that the company had poor compliance with the terms set out by licence body SEPA.

This related to the amount of time that waste could be held on the site.

The company was served with a notice to stick to the terms of the licence, but it continued to remain non-compliant.

A further notice was served which prohibited them from keeping inert, household and industrial waste.

However, it was still allowed time to remove the waste that was on the site.

The firm was informed that the terms of the notice would be reduced if it complied with the 1,000 tonne limit of waste.

A temporary halt to the notice in October 2019 allowed the firm to accept more waste until December that year.

Several inspections through 2021 found that there was still a large amount of waste on the site.

One of the site visits from SEPA noticed recent deposits of controlled waste, which included material from households as well as paper.

After further inspections, a notice was put on the company in February 2024 requiring the removal of waste by August that year.

Prosecutor Gerard Drugan said: “Mr Boyle gave numerous assurances and undertakings to SEPA that all unauthorised waste would be removed from the site, but has said that there is no money available to cover the substantial costs of removal and disposal of the waste to approved destinations.”

SEPA used a drone to conduct an inspection of the site found that it contained between 3,667 and 4,350 tonnes.

Mr Drugan said: “SEPA officers speak to the volume of waste at the site consistently being in excess of 1,000 tonnes, throughout the alleged period of wrongdoing.”

The fiscal depute stated that currently, “no effort has been made to clear waste.”

The hearing was told that some of the waste will need to be disposed of at a landfill while others can be recycled.

Mr Drugan added: “The range for clean-up costs is between £178,747 and £586,031.”

Peter Farrell, defending, told the court: “The reality is that he doesn’t have the money to pay for the removal of the waste on the site.

“He took over the lease of the land in 2016 with the expectation – sometimes unrealistic – that it was going to be a success.

“He said it was a success for a short period of time, but the first red flag was when the licence was transferred from one of his company’s to another after it was dissolved.”

The lawyer stated that the owner of the land is in discussions since the lease ended in September this year, for the sale of the land.

Sentence was deferred for six months for good behaviour by Sheriff Lorraine Glancy KC.

She said: “This will await the outcome of the potential sale of the site, and this will allow parties to ascertain whether SEPA are to bear the costs of the clean up or a third party .”