Local group Foresters Against Fowling joined together with Save the Wye campaigner Angela Jones to organise a protest in the town last Tuesday (August 9).
Forest of Dean and Chepstow residents were joined by followers from further afield, representing groups including Friends of the Lower Wye and Wye Valley angling clubs, to demonstrate their opposition to practices which they say have led the river to the brink of “ecological collapse”.
The protesters displayed placards and banners to shine a light on the pollution caused by phosphates originating from intensive poultry farms and human sewage discharges by water companies.
Amongst the display was a giant egg box labelled ‘Crappy Eggs’ - a nod to ‘The Happy Egg Company’ brand from Noble Foods, which together with the poultry farms to which it supplies feed, is responsible for a large share of the 20 million chickens farmed in the Wye catchment.
The protesters marched through the town towards Tesco - one of Noble’s biggest customers - in a bid to convince the supermarket giant to take more responsibility for its role in the pollution of the river.
The march was accompanied by the “distinct and strong beat” from the Forest of Dean Extinction Rebellion Samba Band, before a letter was handed to the Tescos manager asking the company to “immediately raise standards” sourcing their poultry and egg supply in the Wye Valley.
Angela Jones said of the protest: “I am doing this because the Wye is the nation’s favourite river. It’s on a cliff edge to ecological collapse. Years of table-talking and lost promises have lead me and others to shame the companies that are polluting our Wye.
“Welsh Water has added to the mix by continuing to illegally use our Wye as an open sewer.
“There have been no prosecutions by the agencies that are supposed to protect our rivers and no voice from the elected.”
Catherine Musk of Foresters Against Fowling called out a recent statement made by Tesco, which said the company is working directly with suppliers “on implementing nature-based solutions, including tree planting.”
“This is woefully inadequate,” Catherine commented.
“The management at Tesco’s must grasp the science in this area and understand the huge scale of the problem they are causing. Nature-based solutions on their own will not save the river Wye.”
Campaigner Eileen O’Hare said of her reasons for protesting: “I felt it was important for people to realise the connection between the food they are buying and their local environment.“
Group member John Payne added: “I am proud to be part of a group that is calling out Tesco.
“The huge intensive poultry units are sustained by large Feed Mills, like Noble Foods at Clearwell in the Forest of Dean, supplying most of the egg producing units.
“There are 26,000 HGV movements to and from the site at Clearwell.
“It is thought that tens of thousands of tonnes of unsustainable soya arrives at the unit and is then shipped out as processed feed that ultimately becomes faecal chicken waste that is dumped into the River Wye Catchment area, fouling the river.”
The next meeting of Foresters Against Fowling will take place at The Butchers Arms in Clearwell at 7pm next Thursday (August 25), with all welcome to attend to find out more about the campaign.