RIGA, Jan 13 (LETA) - Rimi Baltic retail company has stopped buying products from Lithuanian cardboard and paper product maker Grigeo which has polluted the Curonian Lagoon with its untreated wastewater, Regina Ikala, a spokeswoman for Rimi Latvia, informed LETA.

The retailer said that the decision remains in place until reassurances are received that measures have been taken to prevent pollution risks to the environment.

Rimi Baltic CEO Edgars Sesemann indicated that Rimi has a very strict stance on corporate responsibility issues where environmental protection plays a significant role. We ask our suppliers to also follow this policy, and in this case we want to be 100 percent certain that all mistakes have been dealt with, he said.

Rimi Baltic will not launch new sales campaigns for the already delivered Grigeo products and will not sign new contracts until the problem with the pollution is resolved.

The Lithuanian Environmental Protection Department informed the Latvian State Environment Service that an inspection on the night of January 7 revealed that completely or partly untreated wastewater from the Grigeo plant was flowing into the Curonian Lagoon.

Gintautas Pangonis, Grigeo president and main shareholder, said untreated wastewater was released into the Curonian Lagoon via an emergency pipe.

In his words, some wastewater entered the Curonian Lagoon after mechanical treatment but it was not treated biologically. He could not say how much wastewater had been released into the Curonian Lagoon.

The company has pledged to compensate for the environmental damage done.

© Pakistan Press International, source Asianet-Pakistan