ONE of the largest clean-ups of abandoned waste ever seen in the country has taken place in Warrington.

A waste management firm has completely transformed the face of a storage site at Warrington docks – removing more than 66,000 tonnes of waste, which had been illegally dumped.

Broad Environmental was able to recover and recycle more than 94 per cent of the waste.

The company was appointed to process and remove thousands of bales, which filled two huge storage units and every available inch of space around the buildings and along the canal side.

It followed the eviction of Asset and Land Group, which had intended to use the nearby Manchester Ship Canal to send the material as a combustible fuel for use within energy from waste plants in the Nordics.

The clean-up process took Broad Environmental 18 months to complete with a final clear up cost totalling in excess of £6 million. The landowners were able to save in excess of £3 million.

Broad Environmental director Alistair Hilditch-Brown, said: “This project was one of the largest clearances of abandoned waste seen the UK.

“We did not have any information on the contents of the bales stored on site and no information of their provenance, this meant that we had to split open every bale to ensure that the correct handling procedures were followed and material was managed in line with waste hierarchy.”

In 2013, Asset and Land Group was investigated by the Environment Agency after major fires broke out at two sites they managed in Greater Manchester.

The first fire, at a site in Stockport, lasted for 41 days and closed parts of the M60 motorway.

Environment Agency modelling suggested that a fire at the Warrington site would have affected the Manchester Ship Canal, West Coast Railway and flights in and out of Manchester and Liverpool airports.

Alistair added: “I am very happy with the way the project has been managed and the recovery rates that we have achieved.

"I am happy to hand the site back to the landowners so as they can look for new tenants and begin to recover the costs they have incurred in the site clearance.”

With both waste crime and waste abandonment on the increase, Mr Hilditch-Brown issued a warning to landlords and landowners.

He said: “Waste crime and abandoned waste are two of the fastest growing issues throughout the UK, costing many innocent landlords and landowners millions of pounds every year – not to mention the environmental impact they can leave behind."