Food company fined for exceeding limits for waste dumped in sewers

A local food manufacturer has been fined $17,700 for repeatedly dumping liquid waste exceeding allowable limits into public sewers.

The waste from Whye Kee Foodstuff was found to have exceeded limits by more than 120 times, Singapore's national water agency PUB said yesterday.

The company was convicted of four charges of discharging effluent containing chemical substances exceeding allowable limits on Oct 11, 2019, with another six charges taken into consideration during sentencing. They had previously been fined $14,400 for committing similar offences in May last year.

The recent offences were discovered during PUB's site inspections at the company's premises in Tai Seng Avenue, off Upper Paya Lebar Road, between September and October last year.

Samples revealed that the liquid waste was found to have exceeded the allowable limits for Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Total Suspended Solids and Chemical Oxygen Demand by more than 120 times, and more than eight times for oil and grease.

These substances were from the food waste produced by the company's food manufacturing operations.

PUB said: "Excessive levels of these substances in the sewage can upset used water treatment processes at PUB's water reclamation plants and also disrupt NEWater production."

Investigations also revealed that Whye Kee Foodstuff had failed to put in place effective measures to prevent and remove excessive food waste generated from the food manufacturing processes from going into the sewers.

The company also did not pre-treat its waste to meet discharge limits.

PUB revoked approval for the company to discharge its waste into the sewers from May 4 this year. The company also has to engage waste collectors to collect its effluent for off-site disposal.