Archived press release

Factory pollution slashed: campaign win for foe

23 October 2002

Cancer causing chemical pollution from Britain’s biggest factories fell by a fifth last year, according to the first analysis of official pollution data published by Friends of the Earth today (see table on page 2 of this release).

For the last five years Friends of the Earth has been using raw pollution data from the Environment Agency to calculate and publish league tables of the worst polluters for cancer-causing chemicals. Since the campaign began in 1998, releases of cancer-causing gases have fallen by 48 per cent.

However, these achievements must not be allowed to relieve pressure on companies to cut pollution levels further. Almost 8000 tonnes of cancer-causing gases are still released by Britain’s biggest factories, many of which are located in socially deprived areas already facing numerous other health threats. In Teesside, where Friends of the Earth has been working closely with the local communities over the last 18 months, pollution levels fell by less than 10 per cent last year and have only fallen by 23 per cent since 1998.

Reductions are a result of a number of factors including

• action by the Environment Agency,
• voluntary action by companies, and
• in some cases reduced levels of production.
  

Friends of the Earth wants the Environment Agency to produce information on pollution releases compared to production levels, to enable better analyses of the data.

Mike Childs, Senior Campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said:
“Cuts in factory pollution are good news for the environment and good news for people who have to live near polluting factories. These results vindicate Friends of the Earth’s approach of linking chemical pollution to potential health threats and ‘naming and shaming’ the worst polluters. The Environment Agency, the official pollution watchdog, has done good work in forcing cuts in pollution. But much more needs to be done, especially in socially deprived areas such as Teesside. Zero release of health-threatening pollution must be the goal.”

Releases of recognised carcinogens (tonnes)

Note that some companies have changed ownership since 1998. The table above uses the current names and has compared the same industrial processes during the four years. The following companies have moved out of the top ten since 1998:
* Fine Organics, N Tees, TS2 1UB (308 tonnes in 1998, 85 t in 2001 – a 72 % reduction)
* European Vinyls, Thornton Clevelys, FY5 4QD (581 tonnes in 1998, a process was shut down during 2000)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust