A recycling company has been fined for failing to store rubbish correctly at its Brighton depot.

Environment Agency officers visited Magpie Recycling Co-operative Ltd on several occasions during the last year to find plastic bottles, paper and glass strewn on the floor.

Bins were overflowing with cardboard and a container was found filled with non-recyclable rubbish including household waste and toys.

At Brighton Magistrates' Court on Thursday the company pleaded guilty to a charge of depositing controlled waste on land without a waste management licence and was fined £2,000.

Magpie, based in Hollingdean lorry park, Brighton, also admitted a charge of allowing waste to escape from its control and was conditionally discharged for two years.

It was also ordered to pay £1,000 in legal costs.

A spokesman for Magpie said improvements were being made at the site.

He said: "The situation we have ended up in is a result of the appalling infrastructure of the site we are forced to work with.

"We have changed the management systems to avoid it happening again."