Huge hike in water treatment bills for Danish hide supplier
17/09/2012
Based in south-central Denmark, Scan Hide relied on the town of Egebjerg for water services until a local authority reform took place across the country in 2007. After that, the larger local authority of Svendborg took over and questioned the arrangements that the hide processing firm had in place for wastewater treatment. It said Scan Hide was paying far too little, around $65,000 a year and calculated that a fairer valuation of the service would be around $1.5 million. Scan Hide refused to pay the revised amounts and the matter went to court.
After a long legal battle, the court said on September 14 that the Svendborg local authority was in the right and that Scan Hide will have to pay the higher figure. Discussions are continuing over the date to which the revised fee should be back-dated.
Scan Hide was established in 1991 by a collective of Danish slaughterhouses. Its majority owner is meat company Danish Crown, which has a 75% stake.
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