Nestlé is being sued for pollution after tons of dead fish were discovered near its factory on the Aisne River in early August.
14 different species were affected, including protected ones such as eels and lamprey.
The combination of rotting carcasses and rising heat has created an incredibly bad smell, so volunteer fishers and firefighters were tasked with a massive cleanup job.
They recovered over five tons of dead fish that had to be disposed of by the truckload.
Michael Adam, president of the Ardennes Fishing Federation, helped bring the complaint against Nestlé France for violation of article 432.2 of the environmental code.
He reported that in his 40 years with the federation, he had never seen pollution of this magnitude.
The Nestlé factory in question manufactures powdered milk for Nescafe’ Dolce Gusto coffee pods.
In a statement, Nestle confirmed that there had been an “occasional and involuntary overflow of biological sludge effluents, without the presence of chemicals” dumped into the river from its wastewater treatment plant.
They also stated that they immediately stopped production and put an end to the spill.
At Karmagawa and SaveTheReef, we don’t think this is enough.
Although this area is well known for its “green tourism” with its amazing forests, rivers, and lakes … it will still probably take 10 years for it to fully recover from the incident.
Meanwhile, Nestlé will likely pay a small fine of a few thousand euros.
Corporations must take more responsibility for any pollution that they cause.
Nestlé is the second-biggest polluting company in the world behind Coca Cola.
It produces over 1.5 million metric tons of single-use plastic annually and it’s been involved in several similar pollution incidents.
The company has also allegedly employed child slave labor in Africa. For more on that watch the documentary, “The Dark Side of Chocolate.”
In all the pollution cases, Nestlé only had to pay small fines.
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(Cover image: Vietnam Stock Images/Shutterstock)