Site inundated with more than 250 complaints in past year about smell and noise levels
Problems with smells, noises and toxic fumes are among hundreds of complaints which have helped to hold up handover of Interserve’s energy-from-waste scheme in Derby, documents obtained by Building have revealed.
Interserve is in a 50:50 joint venture with waste management firm Renewi to carry out work on the £145m scheme at Sinfin.
The JV, called Resource Recovery Solutions (RRS), had originally been due to finish the scheme for Derby city council and Derbyshire county council in spring 2017 after signing up to the deal back in 2009.
The job is one of a number in the contractor’s disastrous portfolio of energy-from-waste schemes which have racked up crippling losses and caused it to seek a second rescue in less than a year.
The plant (pictured), which has been built next door to a Rolls Royce factory, began taking in waste last January but has been hit with a string of complaints from local residents since.
According to data released by the Environment Agency under a Freedom of Information request, 259 complaints were made in its first year of operation.
Last September, one local resident, Paul Rogers, told the Derby Telegraph: “It stinks really bad and smells like overflowing bins.” He added: “The noise is like a humming sound, it just cuts through everything.”
The vast majority of complaints, 204, were made about smells with a further 31 being made about noise and vibration. Other complaints included issues over smoke, vermin, toxic fumes and dust.
One incident over odour was caused by a seized damper valve – which stops or regulates the flow of air inside a duct – while an unsealed chamber at the plant caused an acidic odour to be released.
The documents also reveal the plant had issues with the software on one of its three processing lines that were causing a “string of electrostatic discharges”. RRS was forced to shut the line to investigate the issue.
In a statement, RSS confirmed no firm date for handover has yet been inked in and added: “We continue to work constructively with the councils and all other project stakeholders to bring the Derby Waste Treatment Centre into full service.”
Minutes of a Community Liaison Group meeting on 13 December, which was attended by representatives from Interserve, Renewi and the councils, said the opening date was dependent on the next phase of testing, which was due to start in the middle of last month.
The minutes said: “The IC [independent certifier] needs time to review both tests and make a decision. A date cannot be issued at this stage.”
The EA also revealed that RSS had breached its permit six times in 2018.
The news comes as the firm prepares to release an updated rescue plan later this week. Interserve’s problems with energy-from-waste have so far cost it more than £220m.
Additional reporting by Will Ing www.building.co.uk
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Tempers flare at public meeting on pot firm's pong
Tensions boiled over Friday at a public meeting for residents and businesses concerned about an odour coming from a medical marijuana grower operating in a former factory in northwest London.
Tensions boiled over Friday at a public meeting for residents and businesses concerned about an odour coming from a medical marijuana grower operating in a former factory in northwest London.
The Hyde Park Business Improvement Association organized the meeting, attended by Ward 7 Coun. Josh Morgan and MP Kate Young (Lib.-London West) in response to a flood of complaints that first began in the fall.
Nearly two dozen business owners and area residents filled a basement room at the Four Seasons restaurant on Fanshawe Park Road to demand politicians take immediate action against the pot-growing business.
But when neither Young nor Morgan could provide concrete steps to staunch the stink, or provide a timeline for fixing the problem, discussion grew heated.
“You come here unprepared, without any answers at all — none. It’s buck passing,” said area resident Tim Stephen.
Developer Harry Hermann also wasn’t satisfied with the lack of answers, warning the odour has both economic and health costs to area residents and businesses.
“This is ridiculous. We’re getting danced around here,” he said of the Young’s responses to the crowd’s questions.
Hermann, owner of HLH Investments, demanded an inspector be sent to ensure the North Routledge Park operation complies with Health Canada ventilation requirements.
The federal agency, which regulates production of medical marijuana, requires growers to install air filtration systems to contain odours.
“It’s very obvious it’s raw ventilation coming from the building,” Hermann said, adding the smell that gets worse in warm weather. “It’s sickening.”
A man who previously identified himself as the operator of the marijuana business told The Free Press that he grows for medicinal users and complies fully with Health Canada requirements. The man, who declined to give his name, didn’t disclose how many plants are being cultivated inside the former Spencer Steel building.
But city staff estimate it holds as many as 1,800 cannabis plants, Morgan said, noting the owner has a valid permit to grow medical marijuana.
Under Canada’s marijuana law, adults with pot prescriptions may grow their own cannabis or appoint an individual approved by Health Canada to do it for them. These growers are separate from the country’s nearly 150 commercial licensed producers, large-scale growers who supply most of Canada’s medical marijuana and all its recreational pot.
Young said she has raised the issue with an MP from Niagara, where there’s a similar problem, and with Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, but stopped short of acceding to the crowd’s demand to bring their concerns directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I know some of you have written complaint letters, and I really encourage you to do that,” Young said, prompting a backlash from the audience.
Allan Tipping, who led the fight against OrgaWorld, a south London compost giant slapped with a massive 2017 fine for foul odours, urged those in attendance to keep complaining.
“Unfortunately, you have to complain, people. You have to keep going at it,” he said.
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