Devro (Scotland) Limited, based in North Lanarkshire, was made to pay up £48,000 after admitting that untreated industrial effluent from its Moodiesburn factory was discharged into a waterway, significantly harming the environment.

The discharge led to ammonia levels 350 times higher than environmental quality standards. It affected a 6km stretch of the burn and Luggie Water.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the matter had been reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Devro (Scotland) Limited are also required to pay a victim surcharge of £3600.

The firm makes collagen casings used in sausage production.

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On July 17, 2021, Sepa officers received public complaints of pollution to the Bothlin Burn, a tributary of the Luggie Water. The pollution was traced to the Devro site.

Sepa said: “Devro (Scotland) Limited’s manufacturing process producing significant volumes of trade effluent (wastewater) from animal hide washing undertaken inside a number of large drums, which use mechanical action and chemicals to remove material from the animal skins.

“Under normal conditions, the factory’s trade effluent should be discharged to the public sewer under a trade effluent direction from Scottish Water, which includes strict limits on volume and chemical content.

“The pollution to the Bothlin Burn resulted from an incident within Devro (Scotland) Limited’s site between 14th and 18th July 2021, when a blockage in the company’s foul sewer line caused a back-up of trade effluent.

“The factory operated a dual manhole drainage system, comprising a foul pipe and surface water pipe running alongside each other. This back-up within the foul pipe spilled over into the surface water pipe, with untreated effluent entering the surface water network and discharging direct to the Bothlin Burn.”

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Shona McConnell, Sepa’s head of environmental performance geographic, said: “This was a serious and entirely avoidable pollution incident that caused significant harm to a local watercourse.

“Our investigation found that a blocked foul sewer led to a substantial volume of highly polluting trade effluent wrongly escaping via the site’s surface water system.

“Devro (Scotland) Limited have since removed the dual manhole drainage system. Infrastructure like this, and lack of maintenance, poses real risks.

“Businesses must ensure that their drainage systems are properly understood, regularly maintained and, crucially, designed to protect against this kind of failure.

“We would encourage any operators using dual manhole systems, or who are uncertain, to review their drainage layout, to take urgent steps to understand the risks and to put controls in place. Sepa expect all businesses to take responsibility for protecting Scotland’s water environment and where they don’t, we will take action.”