Friday, December 23, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Fix for smelly compost plant in the works
GUELPH — A draft plan for addressing the odour problem experienced in the early stages of Guelph’s new compost facility contains a fix for the smells, a top city official said Monday.
But details of that proposed remedy are not being publicly revealed until the draft plan can be studied, questioned and possibly tweaked by a public liaison committee. The committee is to meet Dec. 20.
“Yes, of course, that’s the intention, is to create a fix for the problem,” said Janet Laird, Guelph’s director of planning, building, engineering and environment, speaking of the draft plan.
“We won’t, I guess, know for sure until it’s fully implemented and we get to monitor its effectiveness.”
The plan, she said, includes everything the facility’s designer/builder Maple Reinders, the city, the ministry and other principals “can think of to fix the problem.”
The nearly $33-million Organic Waste Processing Facility built by Maple Reinders Group Ltd. was lauded as an odour-free facility when it officially opened on Sept. 27. But it discontinued processing deliveries of additional green bag organic waste on Nov. 25 after several complaints were received from residents near the eastside plant.
Since then, the city has been sending residential wet waste to landfill.
Laird said on Nov. 28 she hoped the issue could be resolved within two weeks. On Monday, she said Maple Reinders has prepared a draft plan, and is continuing to work on the plant’s systems to address the problem.
While the plant is not receiving additional waste material, it is continuing to process the compost material inside. There have been no further odour escapes that the city is aware of, she added.
Laird said as a courtesy to public liaison committee members, she did not want to reveal details of the draft plan until a meeting is held with that group. But she said the plan was discussed with the Ministry of the Environment on Friday.
“There is a strong desire from both the ministry and the city to take it first to the public liaison committee before we share it with the community, because we want to respect the public liaison committee’s role in this,” Laird said.
“I think it’s safe to say that in the meantime, Maple Reinders is still undertaking their review of their air management and odour control systems,” she continued. “They’re making any upgrades as they go along that don’t require further approval.”
Ken Spira is president of the community action group Guelph Waste Management Coalition, and he is part of the public liaison committee. Some of the coalition’s members, who live near the plant, reported the odours in November.
He said Monday the city is seeking a special meeting on Dec. 20 “to review Maple Reinder’s draft action plan that was developed to investigate the facility’s odour management system.”
The city, he added, wants input from public liaison committee members on the plan.
Spira said he “has no clue what they are up to,” since he has not seen the draft plan. While he requested to have the meeting deferred until Jan. 12 due to the approach of Christmas, the city wants the meeting to proceed on Dec. 20 because there is a “need to finalize the plan as soon as possible.”
“Obviously, they have some sort of action plan which they’ve reviewed with the ministry,” he added. “I am at least grateful that any action plan will be discussed with the PLC so that we can comment prior to implementation, of whatever it is.”
Monday, December 05, 2011
Stench response is on the nose
FAMILIES in Melbourne's west are worried about a putrid smell that has been wafting over the area for at least a year.
More than 50 people have complained to the Environment Protection Authority Victoria about the rotting garbage smell, with one Derrimut resident, Deepa Coello, saying she feared it could have long-term health implications for her 18-month-old toddler Teanna.
The EPA has received complaints from residents in Burnside, Caroline Springs, Deer Park and Derrimut, where Mrs Coello says the stench is usually at its worst after 7pm.
''It's getting embarrassing because it's usually at times when we're entertaining guests and they notice the smell,'' Mrs Coello, who is 14 weeks' pregnant, told The Sunday Age.
''I'm not exactly sure what the smell is so I'm just a bit concerned it could be some sort of industrial pollution. It's definitely not normal. It's such a bad smell I think it must be … dangerous.''
The Coellos live near two industrial sites: the Orica plastics, chemicals and explosives plant on Ballarat Road, Deer Park; and the Boral Western Landfill on Riding Boundary Road, Truganina.
Orica, which was forced to close down its Kooragang Island ammonia plant near Newcastle, NSW, after a toxic gas leak in August, operates a number of businesses at its Deer Park site in the areas of adhesives, plastics and specialty chemicals, as well as a small explosives business manufacturing sophisticated initiating systems.
The Boral plant is one of the largest landfills in Australia, accepting about 400,000-500,000 tonnes of waste each year.
EPA spokeswoman Tanya O'Shea said its pollution hotline had received 55 calls about the foul smell in the past 12 months, with some callers blaming the Boral site but none mentioning Orica.
EPA investigators had inspected the Boral site in June and September and the company had taken action to minimise off-site odours including covering odorous material, capping open leachate (waste water) wells and undertaking better managing, monitoring and treating of landfill gas, Ms O'Shea said.
The EPA expected Boral to adhere to its licence conditions designed to prevent offensive odour from being discharged beyond its boundary, she said. Penalties of up to $293,000 can apply to licence breaches.
Derrimut Labor MP Telmo Languiller said residents believed authorities were not doing enough to get rid of the smell.
''The challenge for the western suburbs - given industry growth and given that the area is increasingly being populated by new residents - is to find a way for residents, industry and business to coexist,'' he said.
In a separate case, Australian Tallow Producers pleaded guilty in the Sunshine Magistrates Court last month to two charges relating to offensive odours in August and September last year, as well as a separate charge relating to tallow (an animal-derived fat) inadvertently being discharged into Kororoit Creek.
ATP was fined $50,000 plus almost $14,000 in costs and agreed to spend about $1 million upgrading its facilities to meet a Pollution Abatement Notice.
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