An inspection conducted by Sverdlovsk Region environmental prosecution authorities detected a number of grave violations of the water code by Yekaterinburg division of PepsiCo Holdings.

It was detected that the organization has been dumping insufficiently cleaned wastewater in the River Iset, and the amount of such water reached nearly 13,000 cubic meters in 2010 alone; this was confirmed by the results of chemical lab tests carried out by the Hygiene & Epidemiology Center for Railway Transport. In August-September 2011, the maximum permissible discharge norms were exceeded by 2.5 times for residue on evaporation, by 6.46 times for chlorides, by 2.4 times for suspended substances, and by 2.05 times for sulphates.

The company thus got involved in an administrative offense lawsuit, with charges based on Article 8.13 (part 4) of the Russian Federation Administrative Offense Code (violation of requirements for the protection of water bodies that can lead to their pollution, contamination, or depletion).

Following the hearing of the case, PepsiCo Holdings had to face administrative liability and pay a 30,000-ruble fine, while the company’s engineer had to pay a 3,000-ruble fine.

What is more, the authorities are now considering ordering PepsiCo Holdings’ Director-General to eliminate the violations. This process is monitored by Sverdlovsk Region environmental prosecution authorities.