Visy Pulp and Paper has a mill at the Snowy Mountains Highway, Tumut. Photo: Visy.
A paper manufacturing company has been ordered to pay more than $200,000 after local creeks were unintentionally polluted with wastewater from its mill in Tumut.
Visy Pulp and Paper Pty Ltd was convicted of four offences and ordered to pay $175,000 to the Environmental Trust, which was to be used for environmental projects, by the NSW Land and Environment Court in late May.
It must also pay about $28,000 in investigation costs.
Visy’s mill, on Snowy Mountains Highway near Tumut, processes wood and recyclable paper to make pulp. This is turned into paper in a process that produces wastewater which is sent to a water treatment plant, Judge Rachel Pepper said.
On 27 October 2022, wastewater was being transported between different areas when a value was left open, allowing untreated wastewater to mix with treated wastewater. Then another value malfunctioned, resulting in wastewater being discharged into Sandy Creek.
The unintentional discharge was noticed the next morning. A worker saw foam in the creek and “smelled a black liquor odour, which indicated that untreated wastewater had made its way into Sandy Creek”, Judge Pepper said.
“Black liquor is a by‑product of the pulp production process,” she said.
She also said the amount of wastewater that was discharged into the creek was unknown because a broken flow meter did not record the volume of liquid.
NSW Environment Protection Authority workers arrived later on 28 October 2022 and also saw foam and bubbles, along with a similar smell, in the nearby Gilmore Creek.
Judge Pepper found the pollution did result in “actual, albeit minimal and transitory,” environmental harm that continued for 1.5 days over 5.5 km.
She said Visy accepted it could have taken practical measures to prevent or reduce the environmental harm caused by the pollution, but it had taken those measures since the discharge.
“Visy deeply regrets that the incident occurred and that its environmental practices were not acceptable on this occasion,” a Visy spokesperson told the court.
“It has previously been proud that it operates close to several waterways and until this incident had an otherwise untarnished reputation.”
Visy pleaded guilty to four offences against the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997. These were the unintentional discharge of wastewater and failing to obtain the EPA’s prior approval for a subsequent flushing discharge, as well as two offences of failing to continuously monitor the volume of liquids discharged.
Earlier this month, EPA director of operations Scott Kidd said every operator needed to ensure their equipment was operating properly and there were checks in place to avoid pollution incidents like this one.
He said there was a failure to check that the equipment was functioning properly, resulting in the discharge continuing for nearly six hours. To make matters worse, the flow meter attached to the outlet didn’t record the volume of liquid discharged, so Visy couldn’t say how much ended up in the environment.
“When our officers went to sample the creek, there was a significant amount of foam in the water which had a foul smell and matched the untreated wastewater dam,” Mr Kidd said.
“Fortunately, in this instance there was no significant environmental harm and the creeks returned to normal levels the next day.
“Businesses have both a legal and moral obligation to maintain their environmental controls; otherwise, they can expect the EPA to take regulatory action, which can be costly.”
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