According to the notice of approval, the entrepreneur (38 years old) was allowed to deposit a maximum of 100 tons of untested rubble on his business premises. But at the end of last year, inspectors found a mountain of about 500 tons. At that time, the material was legally classified as waste. Although it later turned out that the rubble was harmless from the point of view of environmental protection and nature conservation, the head of the company had violated the relevant regulations. The man, who has no criminal record, must therefore pay a fine of 1050 euros, as a criminal trial at the district court in habfurt revealed.
The contractor runs a company in a small town in the district of habberge, which deals with the demolition, reconstruction, renovation and shell of buildings. It is obvious that a lot of construction debris is produced in the process. As long as this demolition material is not finely crushed with a shredder and inspected by a geological expert, it is legally considered waste. Only if the crushed rubble is classified as harmless according to the test report, it may be used as recycling material and thus as a substitute for crushed stone. For example, in trench construction or for foundations.
In the course of the last year, an anonymous complaint called the inspectors to the scene. Apparently a neighbor felt disturbed by the noise and dust of the shredding plant. A member of the police force and an employee of the district administration office appeared at the 27. November 2018 to an on-site appointment at the company. The entrepreneur showed himself to be willing to cooperate without hesitation. During the inspection, it turned out that the maximum approved quantity of 100 tons had been exceeded by far and that the company boss was unable to produce an up-to-date inspection certificate.
Thereupon the man received a penalty order from the public prosecutor. Accordingly, he had to pay a fine of 50 daily sentences of 80 euros each, that is, 4000 euros. Because he had lodged an objection in due time, the main hearing was held in public. The defendant emphasized that at that time he freely showed the officials his entire company premises, including in the neighboring town.
Since the rubble was found to be absolutely safe in every previous test, he assumed that the matter would "not boil up so much is. In court, defense attorney hans andree presented his client’s positive test reports from the years 2015 and 2016. Part of the "rough pile" found in 2018 was of ancient origin and must therefore be considered a legitimate recycling material, the lawyer argued.
After the inspection date, the contractor immediately made up for the missing test. According to the geological expert – as in the investigations of the last years – this material may also be installed without any restrictions. In other words, if the man had placed the order in time, everything would have been in perfect order.
Pointing to these facts, the defense counsel considered a discontinuation of the proceedings to be justified. But because the prosecutor did not play along, the case had to be "judged" will be.
Since no dangerous substances were deposited and thus there was no danger to the environment, the criminal judge ilona conver corrected the penalty order in her verdict considerably downwards: 25 daily sentences of 42 euros each, i.E. The 1050 euros already mentioned. In an interview with our reporter, the lawyer indicated that he would appeal against the judge’s decision because he thought he had a good chance of having the case dismissed by the court of appeal in bamberg.