Compost smell gets up neighbours' noses

An Uruti composting company is under investigation and could be prosecuted for failing to get its odour issue under control.

Remediation (NZ) Ltd, which runs a waste remediation plant on State Highway 3, has continually upset neighbours with its smell, which they say wafts down the valley and into their homes.

Taranaki Regional Council has been investigating the plant, which takes waste such as macerated chicks and drilling mud, since the neighbours objected to its resource consent being renewed last year.

In the last four months alone, 27 complaints were laid against the plant, one which resulted in a $1000 infringement fee and another which prompted the council to consider enforcement action.

Council regulatory director Fred McLay told councillors at a meeting yesterday when questioned about the company that he was taking the issues seriously – he'd met with the community and a hearing could be under way by May.

"Things have been a bit tense," he said. "One of the problems is the odour can be there one minute and then move down the valley."

Responses to many of the complaints show that, often, council officers could not detect an odour when they arrived in Uruti, causing residents to become quite upset.

When the officers did detect a smell, it was usually a "sewage" like odour and came from the plant's wastewater system.

In one case, the odour was caused by product not being turned for more than a week during January.

Remediation spokesman Kerry O'Neill did not deny the odour came from his plant when contacted by the Taranaki Daily News yesterday.

"Well, to be fair, no one else is causing it," he said.

The company was trialling a new system which he expected would eliminate the odour and they would know soon whether the system worked, he said.

Mr O'Neill would not comment further given the likelihood of a hearing.

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