Poultry feed plants shut – environmental pollution

“We have been receiving complaints against these units since 2003. The manufacturers were told to adopt a proper method of production but they continued to cause environmental degradation,” said Pak-EPA director-general Asif Shuja Khan.

The 2 feed plants – Capital Feed Mill and HB Feed Mill – where animal and poultry waste was burnt in the open to make feed, were the source of an “unbearable smell”.

Shuja said animal or poultry waste could include a mixture of organic poultry dust, skin debris, broken feathers, insects, aerosolised feed etc and that their burning in the open could cause respiratory, viral and bacterial diseases.

The units were closed down under Section 16 of the Environmental Act, according to which Pak-EPA could take such an action against an entity if it was not adopting measures to keep the environment clean.