Five people have been ordered to pay nearly £7,000 after the remains of a cannabis farm were fly-tipped on forestry land near Resolven.
The waste was dumped illegally in the Rheola forest in the Neath Valley, on land owned by Natural Resources Wales.
It was a document left among the rubbish — along with CCTV, witness accounts and other evidence — that helped investigators track down those responsible.
Following a prosecution brought by Neath Port Talbot Council, four men and a woman were sentenced at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on 21 May.
Between them they were ordered to pay a total of £6,822 in fines, costs and victim surcharges.
Keiron Powell, 29, of Greenwood Road, Neath, was ordered to pay £1,830 after admitting illegally depositing controlled waste.
Darcy Thomas, 30, also of Greenwood Road, Neath, was ordered to pay the same amount for the same offence.
Stephen John Powell, 54, again of Greenwood Road, Neath, was ordered to pay £812 after admitting being in control of the vehicle used to dump the waste.
Anthony Jones, 32, of Wheatley Road, Neath, was ordered to pay £1,406 after being found guilty of failing to ensure the waste was disposed of lawfully.
Ian Jenkins, 39, of no fixed abode, was ordered to pay £944 for the same duty-of-care offence.
A sixth man, who had denied wrongdoing, stood trial alongside Jones and was found not guilty.
The court also ordered the tipper truck used to carry the waste to be forfeited to the council, which is now assessing the vehicle and may have it crushed.
The dumped material was the spent contents of a cannabis grow — black fabric planters, growing medium and other equipment — rather than household rubbish.
Cabinet member for streetscene, Cllr Scott Jones, said people should be able to enjoy the county’s forests and countryside without coming across dangerous dumped waste.
He said the case sent a strong message that anyone involved in illegal waste disposal would be held responsible, however minor they believed their role to be.
James Roseblade, land management senior officer for Natural Resources Wales, said illegal waste disposal remained a serious blight on communities, the environment and the economy.
He said tackling it was one of the organisation’s highest priorities, and welcomed the court’s decision as a clear signal that waste crime would not be tolerated.
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