The operator of a mattress recycling business which posed a 'significant' fire risk to nearby properties has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Mark Quinsey was found to have stored thousands of mattresses at his unit on Salhouse Industrial Estate in Sprowston in breach of environmental laws.
When Environment Agency officers visited Salhouse Recyclers on Rice Way in August 2015 they found mattresses stored 'floored to ceiling' in one building.
The 39-year-old was sentenced at Norwich Magistrates' Court today after pleading guilty to running the operation without an environmental permit.
Quinsey, of The Lane in Briston, also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a notice to remove the waste, and transporting waste textiles to Egypt without consent on March 7, 2014.
He was given 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay £750 in costs.
Salhouse Norwich Limited, which owns the site, and one of its directors, Mark Stone, were also found guilty for their involvement following a trial.
The court heard how 471 tonnes of mattresses were kept at the site, despite regulations from the Environment Agency only allowing a maximum of five tonnes.
During the trial, Stefan Rider, operational support officer with Norfolk Fire Service, told magistrates that nearby homes and schools would have to be evacuated if the premises caught fire due to the release of 'toxic fumes'.
The court heard how Quinsey was issued with an enforcement notice to remove the waste, but did not comply.
Both Stone and Salhouse Norwich Limited were then approached by the Environment Agency to clear the site.
Paul Strelitz, defending Stone, said: 'He had sought to clear the site and find a tenant who would assist with the clean up.'
Stone, 69, of Marleybone High Street, London, was found guilty of knowingly permitting a waste operation without a permit between August 24, 2015 and June 8, 2016.
Salhouse Norwich Limited was found guilty of knowingly permitting the operation.
Richard Dykes, chair of bench, said magistrates were thinking of a custodial sentence. They will be sentenced on May 5.
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