The forestry company UPM's cellulose factory Fray Bentos has polluted the Uruguay River and therefore the company is fined for 640,000 pesos, told responsible minister Eneida de Léon on March 2.
The amount of the fine amounts to just over € 18,000 and contains two offenses. The factory has exceeded the permitted values of both phosphorus and solid particles, "says Léon.
The Uruguay River is regularly inspected and the emissions were detected in a routine check. According to authorities, emissions from the UPM plant have so far been within the limits.
The newspaper El Observador writes that UPM has announced that the activity is reviewed so that the emissions do not occur again.
For a decade, Fray Bentos has been criticised by environmentalists. It was built by the Finnish forest industry association Metsäliitto following a disputed agreement with the Uruguay government.
It was ready in 2007. UPM bought it in 2009.
Argentina protested because the factory was against a 1975 agreement that the river bank at Rio Negro should be untouched unless both countries agree.
Uruguayan Rio Negro (not to be confused with Latin America's ten other rivers of the same name) flows with the Uruguay River in southern Uruguay and that party constitutes the border of the countries.
The International Court in The Hague released 2010 Uruguay and the factory, but the question is still sensitive.
UPM is authorized to build another cellulose plant in Uruguay. The permit applies to the city of Paso de Los Toros. If UPM allows to build it, it plans to be the world's largest cellulose factory.
Source: Svenska Yle
