£25k penalty for AD spill

Firm operating one of the UK's largest anaerobic digestion (AD) plants, has been fined £25,000 for polluting a local waterway

Cannington Limited was ordered to pay a £25,000 fine after 60 tonnes of highly polluting liquid digestate flowed from a storage tank at its site in Somerset into a local stream.

The Environment Agency visited Cannington’s Swang Farm in February 2012, after a member of the public reported a ditch close to the site was full of “green slime”.

An investigation found that a pipe to one of the digestate lagoons had come away from the tank, resulting in the liquid fertiliser being pumped onto the ground.

The firm admitted two breaches of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010, including causing pollution and storing waste outside a permitted area.

In fining the firm, magistrates said the pollution could have had “disastrous” consequences had it not been detected early.

The agency confirmed it continued to closely regulate the plant.