A Birmingham fashion store has been fined after dumping black bin bags full of rubbish on one of the busiest streets in the city. Birmingham Magistrates were told Elanki Fashions, based on Soho Road, left the bags containing general waste by bins near the business instead of correctly disposing of them.
The court heard how city council officers attended the Asian clothing business on April 16, 2025, to carry out a trade waste inspection. Megan Stanley, prosecuting on behalf of Birmingham City Council, said conflicting information had been given by the company on how it disposes of its rubbish. This included director Joy Shanker Das claiming she took the rubbish back to her home in Solihull.
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a demand for information notice was served on the company on that day requiring written details on how it was disposing its waste to be provided. A reminder was issued on May 9 last year, but Miss Stanley said the company failed to respond to the notice.
She said: “It was a large amount of rubbish left outside the business, causing problems to the community. They were wrongly disposing of their waste. We do have a bins crisis going on in Birmingham. There is no excuse for businesses to add to the bins crisis.”
Elanki Fashions, on Soho Road, was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £800 and costs of £2,077 for failing to provide information on how it disposes of its waste. No representatives from the company appeared at the hearing on June 18, and it was found guilty in its absence. Shanker Das, who faced a similar charge to the company, also failed to attend, and magistrates agreed to issue a warrant.
