A company spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk it had pleaded guilty at Stirling Sherriff’s court on February 11 to breaching two counts of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulation.
However, contrary to press reports, the business stressed the £26,250 penalty applied to breaching its waste storage permit, not to river pollution. Scotbeef claimed the reports “suggested much more serious offences” and it had tried to get them retracted.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said it investigated a complaint on January 29 2013 about pollution and odours coming from an unnamed tributary of the river Allan.
SEPA claimed one of its officers linked an abattoir at Longleys, Bridge of Allan, Stirling, operated by Scotbeef, a subsidiary of JW Galloway, to the pollution.
The officer discovered the pad in front of the firm’s manure storage area, or dung midden, was full of manure, paunch contents, slurry and bedding. Similar waste was also found on an access track to the midden and was discharging into the river, it said.
Enforcement notice
It issued an enforcement notice to clear up the waste outside the storage area, but a repeat visit by officers found Scotbeef had failed to do so before the notice period expired.
Scotbeef was fined at Stirling Sherriff court on February 11 2014 for breaching its dung midden permit conditions. Charges were brought under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulation 30 (1)(b, d).
In a statement, the business said the breaches occurred as a result of “excessive wet weather” last year, which had prevented it from spreading waste on nearby farmland, as it usually did under licence.
It was already tackling the waste when SEPA first visited the Stirling site, but was hampered by “continued heavy rainfall”, it said. The clean up was consequently not completed until four days after SEPA’s enforcement notice had expired.
“The company takes its environmental and sustainability obligations very seriously,” said Scotbeef in a statement. “The company very much regrets that these breaches occurred.”
New equipment
Scotbeef said it had spent £66,000 in the past year on new equipment and operational changes designed to handle waste more quickly and efficiently.
The firm has worked with SEPA and has imposed a system ensuring daily checks and a formal monthly inspection of the midden and the area surrounding it. In addition, the midden is regularly emptied.
The midden's access track has been resurfaced and re-rolled to help prevent water and waste pooling in or on it.
Scotbeef said it had improved its environmental management system and that it was now funding one of employees through a Masters Degree in Environmental Management.
“The company is disappointed at the level of fine levied given the technical nature of the charges, the organic material involved, the effect of bad weather on the cleaning up process and the improvements made in conjunction with SEPA after the incident,” it added.
‘Adverse effect’
SEPA investigating officer Callum Waddell said: “Effluent discharges can be highly polluting in terms of water quality and aesthetics ... Such discharges can have an adverse effect on the eco-system of a watercourse including invertebrates and fish.
“Scotbeef should have made arrangements for a specialist contractor to empty the waste when the storage facility was getting full as it had become clear that, due to weather conditions, the materials could not be spread on land. However the company failed to arrange this more expensive option until SEPA became involved.”
Scotbeef’s Bridge of Allan slaughter facility processes 2,500 cattle and 15,000 lambs a week.