Tauranga City Council pollution prevention officers are investigating a milk spillage into an open drain at Maleme Street.
An unknown quantity of milk was discharged into the stream from New Zealand Natural Dairy Ltd, at 20 Maleme Street.
Milk in the waterway.
Milk entered the drains on site and flowed into the open drain.
Both Tauranga City Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council staff attended.
The dairy company faces a regional council prosecution for the discharge.
The factory will be shut down until council staff are satisfied it will be able to comply with legal requirements.
The Natural Dairy factory has been open only a few months. It processes UHT milk for the China market.
Pete's Takeaways was called in to assist with the clean-up.
7 comments
Sadly predictable
Posted on 10-02-2011 13:26 | By Writerman
This is not good. However it does not surprise me. I look forward to hearing the consequences for the company involved. Hopefully they will be severly punished for this. Unfortunately the penalties for these types of offences are notoriously weak which is why large companies are often extremely casual about compliance.
Not good, but not that bad ...
Posted on 10-02-2011 14:28 | By Murray.Guy
Severely punished following an unintentional spill of milk, which the company immediately responded to appropriately? The last storm event had raw sewage going in to the harbour!
national dairy good for Tauranga environment
Posted on 10-02-2011 14:39 | By claypole
yeaaaah! Have council finally found the source of nutrients feeding the sea lettuce? Maybe the chinese can make use of the byproduct as well
Good point
Posted on 10-02-2011 15:55 | By Writerman
Cr Guy makes a good point. Perhaps the council's management of the sewage systems should be looked at a lot more closely as well.
Stop voting for this idiot
Posted on 10-02-2011 16:09 | By Chris
Typical Cr Guy cuddling up to stupid, careless business owners who demonstrate reprehensible disregard for our environment. Or perhaps they're not all that stupid and careless - with a council like ours it's always easier (read: cheaper) to ask forgiveness than permission.
Give them a break
Posted on 11-02-2011 08:38 | By maree
The factory has only been operating a few weeks after months of refurbishment, we would have to expect a few hiccups. I work near by and believe me the red tape and rules set by council are tough. Compliance is now a prerequisite department like admin or sales and in many cases stops businesses from even starting up. We want and need new jobs so lets not push them out before they get going.
What would you expect?
Posted on 11-02-2011 09:13 | By RawPrawn
It has become widely accepted planning practice that low lying waterway areas are often suitable only for industrial use and are zoned accordingly. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect that in such a zone 'accidents' of this kind will be significant, will occur from time to time and will likely result in measurable damage downstream. Cr Guy's point is valid - is BoP Regional Council pursuing TCC as vigorously for that event?
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.