A Stirling abattoir operator has been fined a total of £26,250 for allowing effluent to pollute a local burn.
Appearing before Stirling Sheriff Court yesterday, Scotbeef Limited, which holds a permit granted under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000, pled guilty to failing to store manure, slurry, bedding and paunch contents within the manure storage area as per its permit conditions.
The operator also pled guilty to failing to comply with an enforcement notice requiring the removal of the materials to the storage area. The matter was investigated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and a report was sent to the Procurator Fiscal.
On 29 January 2013 SEPA received a complaint from a member of the public regarding pollution and odours coming from an unnamed tributary of the River Allan. A SEPA officer investigated and identified the source of the pollution as Scotbeef’s abattoir at Longleys, Bridge of Allan.
The SEPA officer attended at the abattoir site and found that thick clumps of fungus, which grow in response to organic nutrients in the watercourse, were present within the burn and as much as 650m downstream of the discharge point.
Callum Waddell, SEPA’s investigating officer, said:
"It is vitally important that discharges of effluent are only released under a licence, which will contain appropriate conditions for the protection of the water environment.
“Effluent discharges can be highly polluting in terms of water quality and aesthetics as they are likely to contain high levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD), which reduces the amount of oxygen available in the water. Such discharges can have an adverse effect on the eco-system of a watercourse including invertebrates and fish.
“The fungus identified in the tributary of the River Allan, downstream of the Scotbeef Limited abattoir, is indicative of very high levels of organic pollution. 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.”
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