At the FrieslandCampina factory in Marum, wastewater has been discharged into surrounding ditches several times. In one case, the group only informed the authorities involved days later.
This became apparent on Monday in a criminal case against the dairy giant. This concerns discharges in May and August of 2022, where water contaminated with calcium, nitrogen and phosphate ended up in the groundwater via the regular discharge.
In May of that year, it became clear on a Saturday morning that contaminated water had leaked from the cheese factory in Marum. Measuring equipment from the company indicated that approximately 40,000 liters of protein-rich liquid had entered the treatment plant last day. A laboratory employee informed the safety manager of the Marum factory via an email. The manager was not called.
Safety manager did not read his email during the weekend
It turned out that the manager did not monitor his mailbox during the weekend, so the water board and the province were only informed on Monday. “Cool,” the judge concluded on Monday. “That really surprised me that someone who is responsible for safety does not check his email or is approached in some other way. I fell off my chair when I read it.”
Because the authorities were only informed days later, research into the consequences of the water discharge was no longer possible. It has been determined that no fish have died.
Part of the sewer system not mapped
A few months later things went wrong again in Marum, when it turned out that in August a steam boiler was discharging pollutants into the rainwater drain. FrieslandCampina also did not discover this in time, because part of the sewer system had not been properly mapped. The company was not aware that the boiler could discharge water into the regular drain. Because a water softener did not work properly, the water that went to the ditch was not purified.
The hearing revealed that FrieslandCampina received two hefty fines for similar matters at the end of last year, totaling 7,500 euros. It was not clear on Monday whether this also concerned the factory in Marum or other branches of the dairy giant elsewhere in the Netherlands.
‘Previous fines apparently not enough’
According to the public prosecutor, it appears as if FrieslandCampina is ‘flouting the rules’. “High fines in the past have not made things better. Apparently it was not enough for the company to be more responsive in terms of supervision and internal control. Such a large entrepreneur, and that environmental safety is dealt with in this way. That surprises me.”
She demands a fine of 25,000 euros, of which 5,000 euros does not have to be paid if FrieslandCampina does not make any new mistakes in the next three years.
‘Impact of leakage was limited’
The company’s lawyer stated that FrieslandCampina attaches great importance to safety. “I can imagine the surprise at just the email to the safety manager. The protocol was not followed properly. But the impact of the leak has been limited, we argue. After the discharge in August, the sewer system was thoroughly renovated, which cost about one and a half euros. To prevent it from happening again.”
He also states that something in the permit for the factory in Marum is incorrect, which should eliminate all blame for FrieslandCampina. The police judge wanted to delve deeper into this and decided not to make a ruling immediately, but only in two weeks, on May 27.
Tags: FrieslandCampina discharged waste water ditch Marum dairy factory Justice demands hefty fine ignore rules
