Pretoria Energy Company (Arable) Limited, a company that produces feedstock for a sister company’s anaerobic digestion plants, admitted causing pollution to watercourses in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk and Aldreth in Cambridgeshire.
Both incidents were caused by silage liquor leaking from ag-bags and making its way into the watercourses. These large ag-bags are often stored on fields, filled with agricultural feeds and sealed airtight. The ag-bags used by this company contained approximately 318 tonnes of silage.
As the ag-bags are airtight and exposed to direct sunlight, a large amount of gas and silage liquor is produced in them. This means the owner must maintain them by releasing the gas to avoid the bag bursting and removing any liquor build-up to prevent leaks and consequential pollution.
On 7 February 2017 the Environment Agency were notified of watercourse pollution in Emneth. The attending officer found pollution caused by silage liquor escaping from eight ag-bags on the site, some of which has holes in the side allowing the liquor to escape. They discovered sewage fungus growing 300m downstream of the ag-bags.
A representative from Pretoria Energy Company (Arable) Limited attended the incident with the Environment Agency officer and said they would arrange to remove the ag-bags. However when the officer returned to the site on 29 March 2017, they discovered all eight ag-bags were still present and samples showed continued pollution on the nearby watercourse.
There was a further complaint at the same site in relation to odour, and on 19 July 2017 when the local council investigated, there were still 5 ag-bags present.
On 26 May and 30 May 2017 the Environment Agency received complaints for a separate site in Aldreth, Cambridgeshire. They found 14 ag-bags at the site, eight of which had completely failed but it was believed the liquor had been contained and not entered the watercourse.
However on a second visit on 1 June 2017, officers inspected the watercourse and discovered black, stagnant smelling water. They also found sewage fungus growing up to 535 metres downstream. Tests confirmed the water was clearly harmful to the biodiversity of the watercourse. The pollution was traced back to the ag-bags.
The company admitted causing pollution in both incidents. At the Emneth incident, they tried to identify drains on the site and checked the ag-bags, but failed to pump out any of the silage liquor which ended up in the watercourse. They blamed extreme weather as a factor for the second incident at Aldreth, saying it caused the ag-bags to burst and the ground had been too hard to absorb some of the liquid.
Magistrates said the company had been reckless in respect of both incidents and ordered them to pay a total of £45,648.50 in fines, costs and compensation.
