Industry unions request to soften waste water legislation for food industry
The industry experts ask to consider a triple excess of standards two or more times a year after the first violation to be a gross violation, which may be followed by a restriction or even a ban on water supply and water discharge,.
If the contract is signed - a double waterwaste discharge above the values stipulated in it for the year after the first violation, or a single waterwaste discharge three times more than the norm established by the contract. If the contract is violated no more than twice a year, the reduction plan will not be necessary.
"The current format of the regulation will have very serious negative consequences for business – in fact, for us it would mean the need to invest in building its own local wastewater treatment facilities ($5-6 million for the company) plus maintenance (about $0.3-0.5 million annually), - explained in Soyuzmoloko to the portal "Milknews". - For small and medium-sized enterprises, this approach is equivalent to closing, since it is impossible to find the specified amount of funds at the present time, when the industry is practically balancing on the verge of profitability. For the enterprises of the food industry, the wastewater of which in fact do not differ from the one of household, the current situation is quite absurd".
It should be reminded that the letter was signed by Soyuzmoloko, the National Meat Association, the Union of manufacturers of soft drinks and mineral waters, as well as by the Association of the enterprises of the confectionery industry.
Since 2019 there comes into force the Law No 225 FZ1, which envisages, among other things, a change of Chapter 5 of Law No. 416 FZ2 regulating the wastewater discharge into the centralized sewage system. The law provides for changes in the procedure for setting standards for the composition of the waste waters of customers and charging a fee for their excess; the development of plans for the wastewater discharge reduction in some cases, when it is impossible to comply with these regulations; possibility of control over customers by the authorities carrying out the state ecological supervision, and imposing of duties on compensation of the harm done to water object for customers.
