Glanbia fined for polluting River Lagan

A Craigavon cheese company has been fined £2,500 after being found guilty of polluting the River Lagan.

Glanbia Cheese Ltd was found guilty at Craigavon Magistrates Court on Monday of after an investigator from the DOE’s Environment and Heritage Service found pollution discharging into the river from the company’s factory at Magheralin.

A large volume of milky effluent was discharging into the river, causing a visible plume of pollution in the river for some distance downstream. Samples of the effluent were collected, which analysis later confirmed to be very polluting.

The court was also told that Glanbia Cheese Ltd had a record of causing pollution, having previously been found guilty and fined for a pollution incident that occurred at this factory during August 2001.

Pleading guilty to causing pollution, counsel for Glanbia Cheese Ltd said that the company was carrying out extensive modifications to the effluent treatment system at the factory, which should prevent any further pollution. They added that this work would, when complete, have cost the company over £100,000.

The Resident Magistrate, Mr White, said that the costs to the company of remedial work would be in excess of any fine that the court could impose. He said however that the public saw such pollution as a serious issue, and any penalty imposed should reflect this. A fine of £2,500 plus court costs of £413.40 was imposed.

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