The Non-Financial Ledger

There is a price tag on this particular crime; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a fine of $175,000. But that number fails to capture the real cost, the debt that can’t be paid in dollars. This is an accounting of the rot that Thumann’s Inc. knowingly pumped into the veins of New Jersey. This is an inventory of stolen public trust and ecological violence, committed by a company that puts deli meats in our refrigerators while treating our rivers like its personal sewer.

The EPA’s legal documents, clinical as they are, offer a sensory glimpse into the violation. They report “foaming and an odor,” a “discolored discharge,” and “red leachate” entering storm drains. Imagine that. The water that is supposed to sustain life, that feeds into Berry’s Creek and the Hackensack River, was instead choked with the refuse of an industrial meat packing plant. This is the water that birds drink from, that fish swim in, that local ecosystems depend upon. Thumann’s decided that the cost of proper disposal was too high, so they made the river pay the bill with its own vitality.

This was not an accident. This was a series of choices made by people in positions of power. The EPA inspected in November 2023 and found the violations. They issued a formal order to stop in February 2024. Thumann’s did not comply. The EPA inspected again in October 2024 and found the pollution continuing, the same sickening discharge flowing into the drains. They inspected a third time in May 2025 and found the company was still storing meat scraps and waste byproducts out in the open, exposed to the rain, ready to be washed into our water. This is a story of profound contempt. Contempt for the law, contempt for the regulators, and most importantly, contempt for the people of New Jersey whose environment they were poisoning.

This is a story of profound contempt. Contempt for the law, contempt for the regulators, and contempt for the people of New Jersey.

The ledger entry here is for dignity. The dignity of a natural space, turned into a corporate toilet. The dignity of a community that trusts businesses not to actively harm them. When a company is told, repeatedly, that it is breaking the law and harming the environment, and it continues to do so, it is making a clear statement. It is saying that its profits are more important than public health. It is saying that the ecosystem is just a line item to be ignored. It is saying that the rules apply to everyone else.

The damage is invisible to most. We don’t see the dissolved oxygen levels plummeting in Riser Ditch, suffocating the aquatic life. We don’t see the long-term effects of fats and oils coating the riverbed. We just see the Thumann’s brand name on a package of cold cuts. But the harm is real. It’s a debt owed to the environment and the public, an entry written in the red of leachate and the gray of discolored water, a permanent stain on the ledger of corporate responsibility.

Societal Impact Mapping

Environmental Degradation

The waste discharged by Thumann’s Inc. is a direct assault on the aquatic ecosystem of the Hackensack River watershed. The source material identifies pollutants like “processed meat parts, fats oil and grease,” and “meat scraps and waste byproducts.” When this organic material enters a waterway, it begins to decompose. This process is fuel for bacteria, which multiply rapidly and consume vast amounts of dissolved oxygen from the water column in a process called eutrophication.

This theft of oxygen creates hypoxic or “dead zones” where fish, invertebrates, and other aquatic organisms literally suffocate. The “foaming and an odor” observed by the EPA are classic signs of this decay. The ecosystem of Riser Ditch and Berry’s Creek, tributaries to the larger Hackensack River, is being systematically choked. This isn’t even an isolated incident neither! These waterways are connected, meaning the pollution from Thumann’s facility spreads, impacting a larger environmental area and disrupting the food web for wildlife that relies on a healthy river system.

Public Health

Industrial runoff from a meat packing plant poses direct public health risks. The “red leachate” and “washwater” are not sterile. This effluent can be a rich breeding ground for harmful bacteria and pathogens associated with decaying animal matter. While the EPA document does not specify bacterial counts, this type of discharge is known to elevate levels of E. coli and other contaminants in water bodies.

The Hackensack River and its surrounding areas are used for public recreation, including boating and fishing. Contaminated water and sediment threaten the health of anyone who comes into contact with it. The “strong odor” is a public nuisance, degrading the quality of life for nearby communities and signaling the presence of anaerobic decomposition, a process that can release harmful gases like hydrogen sulfide. Thumann’s decision to use public waterways as a disposal system externalizes their operational risks onto the public’s health.

Economic Inequality

Thumann’s violations are a case study in privatizing profits while socializing costs. By failing to obtain a proper discharge permit and refusing to implement measures to “eliminate exposure of all industrial activities to stormwater,” the company saved money. These are operational costs that responsible businesses pay. Instead, Thumann’s shifted the burden to the public. The cost of environmental degradation is borne by the community, which loses a clean natural resource. The cost of enforcement is borne by the taxpayer, who funds the EPA’s repeated inspections and legal actions.

The proposed $175,000 penalty, levied after more than a year of willful non-compliance, is viewed by the system as the cost of doing business this way. For a large corporation, such a fine may be significantly less than the capital investment required for compliant infrastructure. This creates a perverse incentive structure where it is more profitable to pollute and occasionally pay a fine than it is to obey the law from the start. This economic calculation is a luxury available only to corporations, while the environmental and health consequences fall squarely on the working people who live in the affected region.

Legal Receipts

The paper trail is damning. The EPA’s own inspectors documented the ongoing pollution over multiple site visits. These are not allegations; they are official findings. We are publishing them here directly from the administrative complaint.

On November 21, 2023, a representative of EPA Region 2 conducted a Compliance Evaluation Inspection (“CEI”) at the Facility. At the time of the CEI, EPA observed foaming and an odor at the Facility’s stormwater outfall, and industrial activity exposed to stormwater, including processed meat parts, fats oil and grease storage, and garbage storage.

On October 16, 2024, representatives of EPA Region 2 conducted a second CEI at the Facility. At the time of the second CEI, EPA observed a discolored discharge with a strong odor at the Facility’s stormwater outfall; red leachate entering the Facility’s storm drains near the base of the Facility’s compactor; and washwater traveling downslope from the loading dock towards the Facility’s storm drains.

On May 16, 2025, EPA conducted a Reconnaissance Inspection (“RI”) at the Facility and observed discolored water at the Site outfall; staining around the drain at the base of the compactor; and meat scraps and waste byproducts stored outside and exposed to stormwater.

To date, EPA has not received information from Thumann’s demonstrating that they have eliminated all non-stormwater discharges, eliminated exposure of all industrial activities to stormwater, or obtained a NJPDES permit.

What Now?

Accountability requires knowing who is responsible and who is supposed to be watching them. This is not a faceless system; it’s made of people and agencies who can, and should, be held to account.

The proposed penalty is just that: proposed. Public pressure can demand stronger enforcement. Support local environmental organizations dedicated to protecting the Hackensack River watershed. They are the frontline watchdogs who spot this kind of pollution. Your voice and your wallet have power. Consider where your money goes. Demand that the EPA and NJDEP impose penalties that are a real deterrent, not just a cost of doing business. True resistance is built in our communities, by protecting our shared resources from corporate negligence through mutual aid and organized action.