REVEALED Shame of bone factory contaminated with deadly anthrax

We have obtained shocking pictures showing the conditions behind closed doors at the HA1 Natural site in Dellingburn Street — plus a damning dossier which details the mess inside.

The Telegraph revealed last month that the factory is polluted with deadly anthrax and now there are additional claims of serious contamination — with some of the dumped materials allegedly lying around the factory for up to 13 YEARS.

The factory uses animal bones imported from India and Pakistan — where cattle are infected with anthrax as a result of germ warfare — as part of an industrial process known as carbonisation.

But a source claims that company bosses have flouted regulations and rules on how waste should be dealt with — and says that they used unlicensed animal bones four years ago.

Operations at the factory are being run down and 30 jobs have gone as the owners, HA1 Natural Products, get set to move to Mexico.

It’s feared that the firm may flee to Central America without fully cleaning up the site, leaving behind a toxic legacy which could cost taxpayers around £3m.

A whistleblower insists that company bosses are fully aware of the contamination and alleges that they have “thwarted” attempts by workers to decontaminate the site because of ‘financial restraints’.

The insider said: “They have been told on numerous occasions that, by negligence of this contaminated site, they were breaking the law.

“They have repeatedly ignored these warnings. Some waste management companies will not dispose of the waste due to the potential risk of anthrax contamination.

“Other waste management companies are willing to dispose of the waste only if it is packed into special waste containers, and have quoted several thousands pounds per ton of waste.” The waste on site is said to include around 450 tonnes of contaminated char, 1,500 tonnes of char dust, several tonnes of highly toxic bone oil and 30 one-ton containers packed with material that includes zinc, copper, lead and cadmium.

A source said: “The enzyme store contains 20 cages, within which are held two large vessels. These hold contaminated char, saturatated with metal deposits. Each cage holds around 500 kilograms of product.

“This waste has been on site for at least 10 years, but the maximum time waste can be stored is only three months.” Elsewhere in the factory, another store is said to hold several cardboard drums filled with an unidentified white powder, as well as containers full of cake sludge and tar bags.

Meanwhile, a source says there are gallons of chemicals which have been lying around in a lab for several years.

The informant added: “In the char mill there is approximately 300 tonnes of hessian and heavy duty sacks. All of this material has at one time held crushed animal bone.

“This type of waste packaging used to be burned on site. However, this practice stopped roughly 12 years ago on the instruction of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

“At the time, the production manager was uncertain on how to dispose of this waste. The operators were told to stockpile the material until an alternative solution could be found.

“At the bottom of the silos there is another 100 to 150 tonnes of the same material, which has been stored on the premises for several years. The factory has been receiving loose bone for approximately five years.

“This store sits beside a finished goods store with approximately 1,500 tonnes of char dust. These two stores were not sealed, and the bone dust has contaminated the product.” There are also concerns about the condition of the building in which all of this dangerous material has been kept.

The source said: “Parts of the roof are missing, and much of the product is water damaged and has been infested with flocks of pigeons.” The Telegraph understands that the authorities have been informed of the serious allegations and the size and scale of the clean-up they could be left with.

A document sent to them says that around 600 tonnes of ‘undersize’ product is being held in the factory’s char mill store, sitting beside waste bone bags.

Our whistleblower said: “This area contains several tonnes of ammoniacal liquor and highly toxic bone oil. Behind the bone store there are dozens of oil and chemical drums which contain various substances.

“In the middle yard store there are roughly 30 containers, each full of about a tonne of contaminated char, backwashed from various semiconductor-type processes.

“This contaminate contains zinc, copper, lead and cadmium, and the store also contains dozens of drums filled with bone oil.

“Given the negligence of this company over the last 12 years, and their proposed move to Mexico, it has to be assumed they have no intention of clearing the site before departing.

“This would result in a distressing and costly scenario for Inverclyde Council, having to clear this site at the taxpayers’ expense.

“It is vital that the personnel in charge of this site be held accountable for years of gross disregard and public health endangerment.” Both SEPA and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are involved in regulating the site. A spokesman for SEPA said: “HA1 Natural Ltd holds a permit issued by SEPA under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000, as amended, commonly called PPC.

“For an activity of this description, PPC requires SEPA to only include conditions which relate to emissions to the air. HA1 Natural Ltd has not notified SEPA that it wishes to surrender the permit.

“The laws on contaminated land are contained in part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The local council is, in most instances, the lead regulator for Part IIA (the contaminated land regime) and is the lead regulator for the planning regime.

“Under both regimes the local council has the responsibility to ensure that land is assessed and remediated as appropriate so that it is suitable for current or future use. The basis of the contaminated land regime is that the polluter pays for remediation.

“Because bone imported from India and Pakistan cannot be guaranteed to be free from anthrax, specific precautions to protect human and animal health are taken by the operator of the process on the advice of the Health and Safety Executive and the State Veterinary Service respectively.” The HSE said they could not comment.

A council spokesman told the Telegraph: “The Health and Safety Executive and Scottish Environment Protection Agency are the respective enforcement agencies for HA1 products.

“The premises are also regularly inspected by animal health officers as they are an approved animal by-products plant.

“The responsibility for all aspects of safety at the site remains with the owner, who should ensure that there is no risk to public health arising from the site.” The bone factory, formerly known as Poynters, has been in Greenock for 180 years.

The Telegraph put the allegations to the company but we were told chief executive Will Downie and his deputy, Archie McKnight, were both out of the country.

No-one else was available for comment.