Irish Examiner - 10/08/05
Waste intended for incineration piped into harbour
By Eoin English

WASTE from a pharmaceutical plant, which was intended for incineration, was instead discharged into Cork harbour. The blunder went undetected for over eight months.

The waste came from one of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) production facilities in Ringaskiddy.

The pharmaceutical giant admitted yesterday to a major waste management blunder. For eight months, waste due for incineration was actually piped to a treatment plant that discharged into the harbour.

The mistake went undetected from July 2004 until the company informed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in April this year. Both the company and the EPA insisted yesterday that the mistake had not damaged the environment. The EPA defended its failure to inform the public.

Fine Gael Cllr Tim Lombard, who, in a separate incident, uncovered the spillage of caustic soda from the nearby ADM plant last month, said public confidence in chemical companies in the harbour area, and in the EPA, was at an all-time low.

"It's bizarre to think that we have another incident that the EPA didn't inform the public about," he said.

He called for a full and independent study of the harbour area to assess possible ecological damage.

The GSK production facility at the centre of the blunder began limited operations in July 2004.

The mistake was spotted during routine maintenance in April 2005, the company admitted yesterday.

Because of the error, waste, which the company says was 99% liquid and 1% organic residues, was pumped to GSK's waste water treatment plant instead of going for incineration.

The treatment plant discharges into the harbour. It is understood the organic residue sank to the bottom of the treatment plant. This was then sent for incineration.

A company statement blamed the mistake on an error "in the assigning and labelling of a waste transfer line".

"At no stage was untreated waste discharged to the environment," it said.

GSK said the issue was immediately resolved after the incident was reported to the EPA. The company has also changed procedures used for the commissioning plants.

An EPA spokeswoman said it appeared the incident was a "genuine mistake".