Big food polluters have to pay
Food and drink - the biggest producer of industrial waste - has come out as one of worst performing sectors in the latest survey of businesses carried out by the Environment Agency (EA).
"There is a long way to go within the food and drink sector and we need better site management and better use of resources," said chief executive Barbara Young launching the EA's 'Spotlight on business', which covers the environmental performance of all business sectors in 2004.
Young attributed the sector's poor performance to its large spread of small companies and the fact that its bigger firms have only very recently become subject to new environmental regulations. Referring to the highly polluting nature of meat and dairy waste, she said: "There are some big issues in food."
While construction and farming will be the first sectors for the EA's attention, food and drink will follow. The EA is already having discussions with around 23 food industry associations, including the Food and Drink Federation.
In co-ordination with the Food Industry Sustainability Strategy (FISS) being developed by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the EA is developing an action plan for food and drink which it expects to be available by the end of this financial year. The plan will then go out for wider consultation.
Food and drink processing, which comprises many small and medium sized companies, produces around 7mt of mostly food waste a year and uses large amounts of water and energy. Currently the EA only regulates a small proportion of larger firms under Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) regulations. But this figure is set to grow from 29 with PPC permits currently to 600 over the coming year as more companies fall within its scope, said Dr Martin Bigg, the EA's head of process industries regulation.
The EA said only 13% of food and drink sites were in the best environmentally managed band. Around 20% of sites were in the second to lowest band and 5% were in the very lowest, including MPP Holdings' Bury St Edmunds poultry processing plant.
Twelve businesses received fines for environmental offences last year. One company director was prosecuted and personally fined and ordered to pay costs. But there were no repeat offenders. Dawn Meats in Cardington received the biggest fine of £25,000 plus £2,138 costs for two incidents of polluting water with blood.
About 54% of the food sector's waste is recovered but "too much food material ends up as waste when it could be converted to saleable product or useful by-product", said the report. Waste production across the sector went up by 5% in 2003.
Between 2003 and 2004 only four sites improved and these included the Headland Foods site at Grimsby and the British Bakeries at Newham in London - both improving by two bands. By reducing and recycling its waste, Headland is saving about £70,000 a year and is gaining a further £12,000 in recycling revenue. Geest-owned Bourne Salads in Lincolnshire reduced its mains water consumption by 45% and cut its water discharge volume by more than 80% by installing a modern on-site water treatment and recycling facility.
On a more positive note, the number of serious pollution incidents in the sector decreased from 25 in 2003 to 21 last year.
Free advice for smaller companies on improving their environmental performance is available at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs
