In August 2014, at Heineken’s Bulmer’s cider plant in Hereford, a container of ammonia-contaminated water was accidently emptied to a surface water drain which connected to the Widemarsh Brook. This resulted in the deaths of between 2,000 and 3,000 fish, including bullhead, minnows, juvenile chub & dace.

The Environment Agency (EA) has accepted an enforcement undertaking of £160,000 from Heineken following the pollution incident on a Herefordshire Brook.

An enforcement undertaking is an alternative that is available to the EA instead of prosecution, when taking enforcement action. It is a legally-binding voluntary agreement proposed by a company when the EA has reasonable cause to suspect that an environmental offence has occurred.

When offering an enforcement undertaking, the company or individual is required to focus upon accepting culpability, demonstrating restoration of harm and ensuring future compliance as well as making a suitable offer to pay an appropriate environmental charity.

Under the agreement, Heineken UK will pay over £150,000 to the Wye & Usk foundation and £10,000 to Yazor Widemarsh & Eign Brook restoration project.

Environment Agency spokesperson Dave Throup said, “It’s very unfortunate that a significant pollution of one of Hereford’s main watercourses happened as a result of Heineken’s actions. However, we are pleased that the company is planning to make a positive contribution to the county’s environment by offering this enforcement undertaking.”

The brewer has also paid more than £12,000 to cover the EA’s legal costs and will invest a further £2.5 million to address breaches in effluent management at the site.

A spokesman for Heineken said, “Our support has come as part of an agreed settlement with the EA, relating to an isolated incident that occurred in early 2014. Regrettably, a contractor working on our site failed to dispose of waste material in the correct manner.

This was a clear breach of our usual policies and industry best practice. Since then, we have cooperated fully with the agency’s investigation and fully accept their findings. Since the incident, we have taken steps to tighten up our procedures; and have carried out further training of colleagues and contractors to ensure that it will not happen again.”

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