Two food firms fined £262,000 for sewer abuse in London

Two London-based food firms have been ordered to pay £262,500 in fines and costs for their abuse of sewers in the north-west of the capital through their disposal of food waste, fats and chemicals.

Kolak Snack Foods was found to have breached the terms of its consent and was fined at Willesden Magistrates Court £168,000 after knowingly discharging effluent containing food solids and fats for at least a week in September 2022.

Kolak is required to treat its own waste before discharging it into the sewers. But after Thames Water investigated the cause of a blockage in the foul sewer that had caused a pollution in the River Brent it found that the food firm had disposed of partially treated effluent. Kolak was fined £152,000 and ordered to pay £16,000 to Thames Water to cover legal and operational costs. 

West London-based company, Taiko Foods, was also prosecuted at Willesden Magistrates Court for 13 offences, during the year to November 2022. They included the disposal of chemicals, solids and fats down the sewers with the potential to cause blockages, flooding and pollution. The company was fined £88,500 and ordered to pay Thames Water £6,000 in costs on 24 October 2024.   

Waste and bioresources director at Thames Water, Tess Fayers, said: “We are pleased the courts understood the seriousness of abusing the wastewater system, which is reflected in the fines and costs for these two cases. We hope it will remind others in the food industry to act responsibly and discard their waste correctly.” 

Thames Water said removing blockages from its sewers costs the company £18m a year.