AnDigestion Ltd, which treats farm waste at an anaerobic plant at Holsworthy, Devon, was ordered to pay 3,570 in fines and costs at Bodmin Magistrates Court on Wednesday for spilling up to 300,000 litres of liquid animal waste.
”When you are managing large volumes of waste operator errors are bound to happen, and what is important is how you react. “
– Jake Prior, AnDigestion Ltd
The company, which fully co-operated with investigators over the issue, was prosecuted because an employee let slurry escape from a tanker, which entered the River Tamar in June.
The company had been collecting the waste for treatment from a farm near Launceston in Cornwall.
Agency
Rodney Hill, from the Environment Agency, said: “The discharge of slurry was approximately 23 times stronger than crude sewage and would be considered toxic to fish and other aquatic life.”
The Agency said the animal waste had starved the river of oxygen “as it has a high biochemical oxygen demand and is much more concentrated than ordinary sewage waste”.
AnDigestion Ltd, of Summerleaze Road in Maidenhead, Berkshire, pleaded guilty to permitting polluting matter to enter controlled waters contrary to the Water Resources Act 1991.
However, the company alerted the Environment Agency and made considerable efforts to clear up the spillage using three waste tankers. Mr Hill said: “The company has been fully co-operative during the investigation. The farm owner and AnDigestion Ltd made efforts to remedy the effects of the pollution.”
AnDigestion
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, AnDigestion operations director Jake Prior explained: “When you are managing large volumes of waste operator errors are bound to happen, and what is important is how you react. We've now changed our procedures we're not taking so much slurry from tankers.”
Mr Prior insisted that collecting and treating farm waste by anaerobic digestion normally benefits the environment and the state of waterways.
He explained: “If we did not collect the waste it would pollute the waterways more, because our anaerobic process reduces the pollution to waterways by turning nitrogen into ammonium.”
The company's Holsworthy plant processes around 100,000 tonnes of organic waste a year through a process that breaks material down in the absence of oxygen to produce a biogas fuel and solid digestate.
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The plant is currently generating 1.6MW of electricity from the biogas, supplied to nearby Holsworthy. AnDigestion is currently investing 2 million in the site and another 1 million in an anaerobic plant for Donarbon in Cambridgeshire.
Mr Prior said: “We are investing more than anyone in the country in anaerobic digestion. A lot of people are showing interest but we're doing it on a large scale. We're still making improvements to the process but it's worth the risk as the benefits are so great.”
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