Sausage casing firm Devro Scotland fined £48,000 after 1.8m litres of wastewater seeped into burn

A company involved in sausage production has been fined £48,000 after around 1.8m litres of wastewater seeped into a burn.

Devro Scotland Ltd, which manufactures collagen casings for use in sausage products, discharged the industrial effluent into Bothlin Burn.

The incident occurred in July 2021 after a fat blockage in the waste drainage system caused the contents of the effluent pipe to back up.

On reaching a dual manhole, the contents of the waste pipe then spilled over into the surface water pipe.

The surface water pipe, used for the drainage of surface and storm water, flows directly into the burn.

Evidence presented by procurators showed that approximately 1.8 million litres of wastewater containing fat and chemicals flowed into the burn.

This included high levels of ammonia and elevated levels of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD).

Samples taken by officers from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) found those levels were sufficient to cause short-term gross pollution in the burn.

They were up to 350 times the environmental quality standard for ammonia and up to 40 times the standard for BOD.

SEPA surveys concluded that the effects on aquatic life of the Bothlin Burn had been “devastating”, causing the deaths of fish and invertebrates.

The contamination prompted multiple calls to Scottish Water and SEPA from members of the public who reported the burn had a milky, opaque appearance and a stench.

The sentence was imposed at Airdrie Sheriff Court after the company pleaded guilty to a breach of water environment legislation. They were also ordered to pay a £3,600 victim surcharge.

Iain Batho, who leads on environmental matters for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “This incident was both foreseeable and preventable. Whilst Devro did take certain measures to prevent such an incident occurring, these measures were not sufficient.

“This is now the company’s second conviction involving them polluting the Bothlin Burn.

“This incident had a significant impact on the burn itself and the wildlife within it It also led to considerable public concern regarding water pollution.

“COPFS takes environmental crime seriously and will prosecute individuals and companies where there is sufficient evidence of a crime and where it is in the public interest to do so.”

The court heard that a regulated amount of wastewater normally flows from the plant to Dalmuir Waste Water Treatment Works for treatment before finally discharging to the River Clyde.

Shona McConnell, SEPA’s head of environmental performance geographic, said: “This was a serious and entirely avoidable pollution incident that caused significant harm to a local watercourse.

“Our investigation found that a blocked foul sewer led to a substantial volume of highly polluting trade effluent wrongly escaping via the site’s surface water system.

“Devro (Scotland) Limited have since removed the dual manhole drainage system. Infrastructure like this, and lack of maintenance, poses real risks.

“Businesses must ensure that their drainage systems are properly understood, regularly maintained and, crucially, designed to protect against this kind of failure.

“We would encourage any operators using dual manhole systems, or who are uncertain, to review their drainage layout, to take urgent steps to understand the risks and to put controls in place.

“SEPA expect all businesses to take responsibility for protecting Scotland’s water environment and where they don’t, we will take action.”