Let’s open door 7
The spectre of unlimited dumping
New legislation in the 1970’s began to limit the types of waste that Albright and Wilson and other polluting chemical companies could dispose of into the environment. Unfortunately this new regulation did very little to change the situation at Rattlechain, with large quantities of toxic material, including white phosphorus contaminated wastes allowed to still be dumped.
A waste management licence- ( licence SL31 )was granted by West Midlands County Council in 1978. This allowed
- Effluent treatment sludge : 140 tonnes per day
- Waste contaminated with white phosphorus : 500 tonnes per year
- Water contaminated with white phosphorus, sulphur and phosphoric acid : 1000 gallons per year
- “solid wastes” : 10 tonnes per week
This licence was later to be renumbered WML 40803. The genesis of this remains in force at the site, but has only been modified in respect of no further wastes can be added to the site.
In reality the licence was not worth the paper that it was printed on with subsequent regulators turning a blind eye to licence breaches that occurred over the next 30 years.