Chinese-owned company fined $51,500 for slaughterhouse waste discharge, fire

The meat business pleaded guilty to two charges under the Resource Management Act. Photo / Google Street View

A Chinese-owned meat processing business in New Zealand has been fined $51,500 for breaking the Resource Management Act by discharging slaughterhouse waste and lighting a rubbish fire that burned for days, but their lawyer said the offending was not deliberate.

Otago Regional Council prosecuted the company for breaking the law at a South Island animal processing plant that handles beef, sheep and goats for export.

Lean Meats Ōamaru, owned by NZ Binxi (Ōamaru) Foods, which is in turn owned by China’s Heilongjiang Binxi Group Co, pleaded guilty on two charges, according to a sentencing decision of Judge John Hassan.

Regional council staff found slaughterhouse wastewater and sheep wash wastewater sumps were overflowing into a watercourse and then to the coastal marine area, Judge Hassan wrote in the February 9 decision from the District Court at Ōamaru.

No resource consent had been sought or granted for spray irrigation of slaughterhouse wastewater at the plant, the judge noted. The company produces significant quantities of solid waste and wastewater, reticulated to the Waitaki District Council’s wastewater treatment plant.

The company acknowledged a discharge of abattoir wastewater had the potential to adversely affect people and the surrounding environment, but had deliberately disposed of its wastewater via K-line irrigation.

Lean Meats' plant in Ōamaru marked with a red dot showing the plant's proximity to the residential area where there is a daycare centre. Photo / Google Maps

Nuisance weeds, algal bloom, degradation of the stream’s ecosystem, flies and mosquitoes breeding, and a disease risk to people were cited as potential significant adverse effects.

Lawyer Edwin Boshier, representing the meat company, said there was a lack of intent to offend. He attributed offending to staff ignorance, including their assumption the activities were allowed.

Boshier said the company removed all remaining waste from the fire pits and disposed of it in a landfill. The company had also implemented a company-wide prohibition on lighting fires, he said.

Judge Hassan’s sentencing said it was only when council staff went to look at a fire started in a paddock owned by the meat company that they noticed the animal waste discharges.

Lean Meats owns a paddock at 10 Shortland St near its plant where the previous owner left rubbish such as car parts, fencing wire, wooden materials including fence posts and gates, freshly cut logs, branches and general rubbish including plastic, the decision said.

The meat plant staff decided on a “one-off” clean-up exercise, so put rubbish into the pit they had dug and set fire to it. The fire burned for a few days, the judge noted.

Regional council staff saw a significant plume of smoke about 1km from the plant, so investigated and found it was coming from the paddock where they found three fire pits. Two of those pits were burning vehicle parts and industrial or trade waste, which is prohibited.

Houses are only 500m from the paddock, and the residential area includes a childcare centre. The prevailing wind was initially from the northwest, blowing smoke away from the housing area, but then shifted to an easterly.

Rubbish burning would have released toxic chemicals including carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Dioxins and benzopyrenes can be released and inhaled when plastic and other general waste are burned. These chemicals are linked to cancer, immune system problems and hormone disruption, the decision said.

Lean Meats' lawyer argued at the sentencing in Ōamaru the offending was not deliberate. Photo / Google Street View

It was some comfort that there were no reported adverse health consequences from the fire, nor did anyone complain to the council, Judge Hassan wrote.

The lack of any property management of the actions of employees who deliberately burned the rubbish reached the threshold of high carelessness, the decision added.

“Despite the acknowledgment by a director of regret for not having intervened when they saw the smoke, nothing was done until the offending was brought to the company’s attention by council enforcement officers,” Jude Hassan wrote.

An unnamed Lean Meats director expressed disappointment he had not taken steps to extinguish the fires when he saw smoke, the sentencing decision said.

The court found the offending “moderately serious”. The claimed staff ignorance did not excuse the company from its responsibility for prudent management, the judge said.

The company was highly careless and its offending posed risks to human health, potentially to the vulnerable, Judge Hassan said.

The regional council initially laid charges against the company as well as defendant Richard Thorp, who Companies Office records show was previously a director.

But the charges against Thorp were withdrawn at the council’s request following his completion of diversion, the judge said.

A further charge against Lean Meats was withdrawn after it pleaded guilty, so it faced only two convictions at sentencing.

Judge Hassan fined it $38,000 for discharging animal processing waste and $13,500 for discharging contaminants via the smoke from the fire.

That money must go to Otago Regional Council.

Kathleen Morrison of law firm MC responded to a Herald inquiry about Lean Meats’ prosecution.

“The company accepts that the prosecution has occurred. The company is under new management and is committed to ensuring that no further breaches occur in the future,” Morrison said.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.