A WASTE firm slammed for its “back of a fag pack” calculations has been ordered to pay out more than £10m in damages.

Essex County Council has been awarded the huge sum over ongoing issues with Tovi Eco Park in Courtauld Road, run by Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB).

The facility began processing waste from across Essex in 2014, but during its commissioning period several performance issues were found.

Owners at the waste plant alleged that failings at the site were due to the wrong type of waste being sent by the county council.

But now Mr Justice Pepperall at the Construction and Technology Court has ruled the problems which plagued the plans were due to “flaws in the original design”.

In his conclusions published yesterday he said: “The fundamental problem with this project was that UBB made a number of serious design errors.

“Its density assumptions were based on little more than calculations on the back of the proverbial fag pack such that the biohalls were seriously undersized and incapable of processing the guaranteed tonnage of waste.”

Mr Justice Pepperall also said the firm had “inadequately researched” how to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste, such as human and plant waste and animal remains, saying its goals were ambitious but “not achievable”.

The court case was heard in London from May to June last year.

The court was told the amount sent to landfill should be kept to a minimum and too much waste was still being sent.

Mr Justice Pepperall awarded the council £9,038,428 to the end of February 2019 and continuing losses thereafter at £99,563 per month.

Simon Walsh, councillor responsible for environment and climate change action said: “We are delighted that the judge’s decision was in our favour and will now take stock and consider our options going forward.This result does not affect the collection of household waste across the county which will continue as normal.”

A spokesman for UBB said the company is studying the judgement and considering next steps.