According to the Environment Agency, Dairy Crest Limited’s environmental performance has been subpar for too long and has to be considerably improved.
In terms of the management of liquid waste, odor, and environmental reporting, Saputo Dairy UK-owned Dairy Crest Limited and the Davidstow Creamery in Camelford, north Cornwall, have consistently fallen far short of the standards set by the Environment Agency, the Truro Crown Court heard.
The wastewater being discharged into the River Inny has become increasingly difficult to treat ever since the plant shifted production to concentrate on whey processing, notably to make powder used in infant milk and other goods. This has led to unacceptably high levels of pollution in the nearby river, a tributary of the River Tamar, which has seriously harmed fish and other aquatic life. Another problem has been the unpleasant odors, which frequently have an impact on local inhabitants’ life.
Dairy Crest had already entered pleas of guilty to 21 of 27 allegations filed by the Environment Agency, producing trademarks including Cathedral City at its Davidstow facility. On June 23, 2022, the business was fined £1.52 million at the crown court for committing this list of offenses. It has previously consented to shell out £272,747 in charges.
When giving the punishment, HHJ Simon Carr expressed his opinion that the corporation had not demonstrated continuous performance over a five-year period. The judge determined that a subpar middle management culture contributed to the environmental damage and that high management ought to have addressed it far earlier.
He said that it seemed as though there was never a period when there wasn’t an issue, and some of the people in charge of the wastewater treatment facility felt intimidated and unable to speak up.
When reading the testimony of locals whose lives had been “blighted” by odors, Judge Carr stated that he had been “touched.”
The offences included:
- Releasing a harmful biocide, used to clean the wastewater tanks and pipework, into the river and killing thousands of fish over a 2 kilometre stretch on 16 August 2016.
- Coating the River Inny with a noxious, black sludge for 5 kilometres in 2018, through a release of a mass of suspended solids in July and August 2018.
- Consistently exceeding limits on substances like phosphorous and suspended solids entering the River Inny, from 2016 up to 2021.
- Numerous leaks of part-treated effluent into nearby watercourses and onto the land.
- Foul odours repeatedly affecting residents over many years.
- Failing to tell the Environment Agency within 24 hours of when things had gone significantly wrong on site, on 7 separate occasions.
Helen Dobby, Area Director of the Environment Agency, said:
As a large and well-established operator, Dairy Crest Limited should be up to the job of maintaining the required environmental standards. Instead, it has over a period of many years failed to comply with its environmental permit and not been able to protect local people and the environment.
We acknowledge that Dairy Crest Limited has been taking steps to remedy the various problems, but unfortunately, these actions were not swift enough on many occasions and proved to be ineffective in stopping pollution.
The Environment Agency remains deeply concerned about the environmental performance of this site and its impact on the environment. It will continue to monitor the situation and regulate this site closely and urges the operator to make the right decisions and level of investment on site to better protect the wildlife and people of Cornwall.
Notes to editors
Davidstow Creamery is the UK’s largest dairy processing facility and one of the largest manufacturing sites in Europe. Each year it produces 57,000 tons of dairy products, including Davidstow Cheddar and Cathedral City.
About 1.3 million litres of milk is brought to the site daily from about 370 local dairy farms.
About 1.2 million litres of treated process effluent is discharged into the upper reaches of the river Inny daily.
Substances or products created during the manufacturing process are harmful to the environment, which means it is a regulated facility and requires an environmental permit from the Environment Agency to operate.
This permit has several conditions which must be met to minimise the risk of pollution to the environment. These include limits of the quality and amount of treated effluent that is discharged into the river Inny as well as odour and noise.