The lingering odour of pet foods processing will continue to waft over Morinville, however a local company has a $500,000 plan to clear the air.
Champion Petfoods president and CEO Frank Burdzy was back at Morinville town council to present a plan to do something about the smell created by the company’s processing plant.
Burdzy last appeared in November to respond to the many complaints councillors received from residents during last fall’s election.
Last Tuesday, Burdzy said the plasma injection system the company installed in 2010 can help eliminate the foul odour coming from the plant, but first it needs to be reconfigured.
“The system that we have in place does still have merit. It still can function, but not in its current form.”
Burdzy outlined an eight-month plan that will see the company test and then implement a type of scrubber technology that would separate fat molecules from the airstream before putting air through the plasma system, which is meant to eliminate the odour molecules.
He said the company would conduct pilot tests to make sure the scrubber technology will do what they have been promised it would.
“A lot of it is to test the theory of these scrubbers,” he said. “We have to have a mini one built to see if it is having a positive effect.”
Morinville Mayor Lloyd Bertschi said the town is pleased to see the company is still working on the project.
“I am glad to see that they are admitting that they have a problem and are continuing to work on it.”
Bertschi said he understands the lack of an immediate solution isn’t going to make people in town feel good about the horrible smell, but the company is putting a significant effort towards addressing the problem.
“I know some people aren’t going to be excited by the timeline, but by the same token they are going to be spending an additional half million dollars,” he said. “It is unfortunate, but at least they are working on it and doing something.”
Bertschi said that when the company first came to Morinville the council of the day should have imposed more stringent environmental conditions as part of their development permit, but that is now in the past.
“Those types of facilities should probably be in rural areas, but it is here and we certainly hope we can do everything we can to continue to work with them towards resolving this problem.”
The company’s plan involves installing scrubber technology at the plant, but they intend to test different types in small-scale pilot tests using a fraction of the venting air.
Those tests are meant to help the plant determine the best available technology before expanding to a full-scale installation.
According to the schedule Burdzy outlined at the council meeting, the pilot tests will be up and running in March and a full-scale implementation will take place in July.
The company will then test air quality in August to make sure the plant is working as expected.
In the meantime, Burdzy said there is little the plant can do about the smell, but they are cleaning the equipment more often and taking what steps they can.
