The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called on the dairy processing sector to prioritise investment in environmental controls to protect waterways from processing plant discharge.

The call comes after three food and drink processing sites featured on the EPA’s publication of national priority sites in Q3 2024, out of a total of seven industrial and waste management sites.

This publication lists which licensed sites have been deemed a priority for enforcement action on foot of their environmental track record.

The three milk processing sites featured on the list are north Cork Co-Op Creameries Limited, Tipperary Co-operative Creamery Limited, and Aurivo Consumer Foods Limited’s plant in Donegal.

All three sites are stated to have flagged up issues with discharges to water, with emissions to air also mentioned as an issue with north Cork’s plant, and infrastructure as an issue for Tipperary Co-op’s.

Two pig farms also are also listed, these being in counties Longford and Cavan. Both piggeries were stated to have had issues identified with discharges to water, waste management and facility management.

A Waterford non-hazardous waste transfer site operated by Starrus Eco Holdings Limited features on the Q3 list, as does a Cork anaerobic digestion facility named as Timoleague Agri Gen Limited.

Complying with EPA licenses

“Our enforcement activities are risk-based and we prioritise sites that are not complying with their licence,” said the EPA’s head of environmental enforcement Dr Tom Ryan.

Ryan pointed out that the recent agency State of the Environment Report had noted a disproportionate number of sites on the national priority list have been from the dairy processing and waste sectors.

“The seven sites on the current list will be the subject of targeted enforcement action to ensure that the environmental issues are addressed, and compliance is restored.”

Manager of the EPA’s industrial licence enforcement programme Pamela McDonnell stated that the three dairy processing sites had all previously featured on the national priority list.

“Milk and milk effluent pose a significant risk to local streams and rivers if it is not carefully managed,” she said.

“The dairy sector must prioritise investment in environmental controls to prevent the discharge of polluting material. This remains a priority issue for the EPA.”