'Constant and offensive': Odour from small-town waste oil processing plant causing ire

Friday, 24 July 2020

Odour from a waste oil processing plant is concerning the small rural community of Tuakau, but the business assures residents it’s just sewerage. James Baker investigates.

If you ask about funny smells in rural Tuakau you’ll get a chuckle. But mention gas or sulphur and you’ll hit a nerve.

According to 400 pages of documents obtained under the Official Information Act residents have complained about an occasional odour so unbearable passing drivers roll up their car windows, and neighbours would go inside and close their doors. Locals reported a burning throat, headaches, watering eyes and nausea.

The documents suggest the odour can be traced to a waste oil facility which processes and recycles 1.5 million litres of waste oil annually. AGB Solutions began business in 2015 after being given resource consent to build two years prior.

It has attracted 24 complaints to the Waikato Regional Council (WRC), including from Fire and Emergency which said it was fed up attending reports of gas at the rural property.

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Documents reveal allegations the business flouted environmental regulations and health and safety rules for five years, with concerns the factory is spewing potentially dangerous pollution into the air and leaking contaminants into nearby farmland, while ignoring multiple notices to stop its operation from both the regional and district councils.

But the councils that have served multiple abatement notices on the facility, are powerless to close it. Waikato District Council has launched an investigation and further legal proceedings.

Local, Leigh Parmentier, says she detects the “strong gassy” odour once a week when she rides past the plant. A few kilometres away from the site two daycare centres say they’ve had to bring children inside because of the stench.

Air quality expert Lou Wickham says the plant's resource consent application indicated the likely cause of the odour was Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) which “produces a very strong smell, like rotten eggs.”

In small concentrations H2S is unpleasant but harmless, but at high concentrations it is toxic, she says.

”This is unlikely to happen with newer facilities with decent filtration systems, but when you get a crappy, badly run plant that increases the risk. That's why you have assessment standards in place.”

Documents show AGB never obtained air discharge consent, which includes air quality assessments.

Former employee Steve Smith, who worked at AGB for two years, said he couldn’t believe the plant hadn’t been shut down.

“I have a real reluctance to talk about this,” Smith said. “It's quite frankly shocking.”

He's most concerned about large quantities of highly flammable petroleum distillate which he says was stored next to waste oil in 1000 litre plastic containers.

“That stuff is highly volatile… someone could get killed,” Smith said.

In 2017 Worksafe issued a compliance notice after a visit revealed improperly stored diesel and waste oil.

He said the site's stormwater management system, to contain spills from hazardous substances during periods of heavy rain, wasn't up to standard, and when the contaminated rainwater was captured, he says he witnessed it discharged onto the neighbouring property.

AGB director Aaron Baldwin, was in March part of a cohort in the Environment Court for illegally storing almost a million litres of solvents and contaminated water at Marsden Point, Ruakaka. The Environment Court said it created the potential for a “catastrophic explosion or fire” and made enforcement orders.

The WRC first became aware of the Tuakau site’s problems in July 2015, when a container truck ruptured, spilling 7000 litres of recycled oil a few kilometres from the site. When WRC staff followed the truck back to the facility, they discovered the plant was in operation. WRC issued an abatement notice to cease operation on August 18 that year.

From 2017 to 2019 the WRC received multiple complaints from Fire and Emergency New Zealand expressing serious concerns. The documents included complaints that the volunteer brigade was being called day and night, to the smell of gas.

“And we have been advised that the business has no resource consent to emit odour from the site, yet still, NOTHING [sic] is being done to stop them and the problem continues to exist. In light of the recent event in Christchurch (the house exploding) the fire brigade was called to the site twice in 24hrs,” said one complainant.

“I am fed up with having my family and life interrupt [sic] to continuously attend this site.

“The smell from there is constant and offensive and on certain days it is impossible not to smell it from across the entire township of Tuakau.”

According to the documents, the WRC and WDC contacted the business owners, to be told the smell was the gas line, or the sewer. Other times they disputed it was operating or said the business was just conducting tests.

WDC visited the site in February, 2015, June, 2017 and March , 2018. The WRC visited the site in July , 2017, January, 2018, June , 2018 and November 2019. Both councils conducted a joint visit in August, 2019. Abatement notices were issued on August 18, 2015, and March 9, 2018.

On August 14, 2019, AGB co-owner Fiona Baldwin wrote to the WRC admitting it had operated illegally, but needed the cash flow to make the improvements needed.

“It was out of necessity/desperation that we had to run the plant… we desperately needed to generate much-needed cash flow to pay for the things that need to be completed, the air discharge consent being just one of them.”

On May 2, 2019 and August 14, 2019, WDC and the WRC issued two infringement notices, each fining the business $750.

And on August 16 Waikato District Council Officer monitoring officer Harriet Lees recommending fining the company every day it continued to operate illegally.

“There seems to be little action from Fiona and Aaron in providing the required information to become compliant… over the last 4 years since the consent was granted,” she wrote.

“In the last year, they have failed to keep in contact with WDC and pay the infringement payment of $750. Since this infringement, WDC monitoring officers have been made aware numerous times that they have been continuing to operate under their abatement notice.”

Both councils declined to comment in detail while WDC investigated, but said it was not within their power to shut down a facility. WRC spokeswoman Jennie Cox said abatement notices and infringement fines were “valid tools”.

“If breaches are determined then appropriate and proportionate action is taken to encourage the party to become compliant. But at the end of the day, behaviour change… is a conscious decision by the regulated party.”

She said WRC has to process 1800 environmental complaints annually, which all compete for priority.

In an email to Stuff Aaron Baldwin said the site was environmentally friendly and that any smells coming from their site were from the sewer line.

“AGB Solutions Limited has constructed a modern purpose-built waste oil processing plant at 136 Bollard Road, Tuakau pursuant to and in accordance with a resource Consent granted by Waikato District Council,” he wrote.

“AGB Solutions Limited denies any allegation of any environmental issues having been created by its approved facility.

“The plant was designed to be environmentally friendly, incorporating worlds best practice methods for odour control, energy, heat and water use reduction, therefore having the smallest environmental footprint possible.

“Council has been provided with reports from duly qualified third parties to satisfy conditions of the Resource Consent. There are no health issues.

“If there is an allegation of health issues then this may arise from the smell which comes from the main public sewer line from Pokeno which runs past our property on Bollard Rd and on through the town to the Tuakau WWTP.”

On July 15, AGB was served another three abatement notices at Pukekohe District Court.