Avara Foods, one of the UK's largest food businesses, has signed a new contract as part of its plan to ensure poultry litter produced by its farms adjacent to the River Wye area will not be sold for use as fertiliser.

The agreement with Gamber Poultry Litter Limited (Gamber PLL) is the first step in delivery on Avara's avowed plan to ensure their supply chain is disconnected from the ongoing issue of excess phosphates to the Wye catchment area. The food giant says the plan will be completed by 2025.

Under the terms of the deal, poultry manure which is excess to the needs of the producing farm's estate will be sold to Gamber PLL for use elsewhere in the UK on land where its presence will not lead to excess nitrogen or phosphate levels. The deal also ensures farmers are paid the current commercial rate for the waste product.

A company statement said: "In January 2023 we published a roadmap that details how, over the next few years, we will change the way manure in our supply chain is managed, mitigating the impact of our supply chain on phosphate pollution in the River Wye."

But the company added: "Whilst it's pleasing to see the progress we are making in our supply chain, it's important that we see similar from elsewhere, with all contributors playing their part.

Avara has consistently maintained it is not a direct polluter of the River Wye, but says it recognises and acknowledges the impact of excess phosphates present in poultry litter on the health of the river.

Overall, Avara says it has reduced the amount of phosphorus in its feed by 32 per cent since 2016.

In August, the campaign group River Action welcomed Avara's initiative as a "significant step forward in campaign to Save the Wye" but said that questions remained.

The group said: "It's great to see that Avara might not be contributing the the further destruction of the River Wye, but what's it going to do to clean up the mess already caused. The Wye is on the brink of collapse and needs urgent action to undo the damage already caused."

River Action also responded on Friday to new water bathing water quality figures published by Defra - and specifically cited the River Wye.

James Wallace, CEO of River Action, added: "The overwhelming majority [of Defra's figures] are coastal bathing areas. Only three rivers have designated bathing water status and they are all rated poor, the worst rating possible. Sadly, that tells its own story, that the UK's rivers are in a very fragile state."

Today only 14% of the UK's rivers are considered healthy, he said. 

"Many others like the iconic River Wye are so polluted they are at risk of ecocide.

"We want to see all the UK's rivers healthy and free of agricultural and sewage waste pollution. A good start is making sure the polluters always pay. We need a well-resourced Environment Agency capable of enforcing existing environmental laws. And we need the water regulator, Ofwat, standing up for consumers and demanding that the water companies invest in their leaky infrastructure and make up for decades of profiteering."

Late last month, in a direct appeal over the appointment of new Secretary of State for the Environment Food & Rural, Steven Barclay, the group made a call for "urgent clarification on when DEFRA will publish its promised emergency plan to save the River Wye from ecological collapse".

Minister Steve Barclay's predecessor, Thérèse Coffey, undertook to publish an action plan by the end autumn this year, the group said. "But with days to go before the start of winter, there are growing concerns that the plan will fail to materialise, leaving the Wye facing an existential crisis with no effective mitigation strategy in place".

Chairman of River Action UK Charles Watson said: "We have written to Steve Barclay, our seventh Environment Minister in seven years, seeking urgent clarification of the whereabouts of the Government's plan to act regarding the ecological collapse of the River Wye.

"His predecessor promised the plan by autumn this year, meaning Mr Barclay has just two weeks to make good this commitment. It would be appalling if such a critically important environmental policy action was to disappear between the cracks of DEFRA's never-ending game of musical chairs.

"DEFRA must act now. With Natural England now having recently downgraded the environmental status of the river to "unfavourable-declining", the situation on the Wye has reached a state of emergency, with little time left to save the river from comprehensive ecological collapse."