It ain’t gonna get any worse — for the time being — but it ain’t gonna get any better.
The source of “that” occasional bad smell in Richmond is asking for permission to increase some emission limits from its composting facility by upwards of 1,000 per cent.
Trouble is, it’s estimated that Harvest Power — which collects and processes organic and green waste from cities across the Lower Mainland at its plant near No. 7 and Blundell roads — is already pumping out gases close to that limit.
Metro Vancouver, which issues air contaminant permits, has said that, before it renews Harvest Power’s permit, it will be “negotiating” with the U.S.-based company to mitigate the odours as much as possible.
However, the company told the News on Tuesday that it’s pretty much doing all it can do to reduce the odours — coming mainly from VOCs (volatile organic compounds) — with the technology available.
The latest emission estimates, derived from tests carried out by Harvest Power during the last two years, were a double-edged sword for Steveston residents Rick and Christie Michel, who’ve complained to Metro half a dozen times in the last few months about the pungent pong.
“It’s good to know that the limits they’re requesting are actually what they’re putting out right now and that it’s not going to get any worse,” said Rick, who was notified by Metro last week, along with dozens of other previous complainants, about Harvest’s application.
“But my wife is asthmatic and was ready to go to the hospital the other day, that’s how bad the smell was. For me, it just makes me feel sick. The smells seem to have been getting worse this fall.
“We recycle absolutely everything that we’re supposed to. But we seem to be paying the price right now with our health.”
Scott Kerr, Harvest Power’s Richmond-based regional regulatory compliance officer for Canada, said the company has requested the new limits based on data it has collected over the last two years.
Kerr said Harvest Power looked at other jurisdictions to check their limits and the company’s request, he claims, falls well below many, including the likes of California.
One factor that doesn’t seem to have been taken into account is the distinct possibility that the volume of organic and green waste being processed at the Richmond plant may increase significantly in the near future — once cities start cracking down on residents who’re not recycling their food scraps.
“It’s hard to know (if the volume will increase), we don’t have an active plan for that,” said Kerr.
“We do know that the food scraps ban is going to be more active in the near future.
But Surrey is planning its own anaerobic digester and there are others looking at it.”
The odours from the facility have been getting up the noses of some Richmond residents since Metro started diverting organic and green waste away from landfills in 2012 and into Harvest’s composting facility instead.
Metro has a contract with Harvest for the organics material collected at the North Shore Transfer Station and for green waste (no food) from the Langley and Maple Ridge transfer stations.
Working closely with Harvest is Ray Robb, Metro’s director of regulation and enforcement, who said there are four main areas where more could be done by the company.
Robb said the oxygenation of the compost piles, the collection and treatment of the gases and the dispersal of the gases can all be refined, hopefully to a level where the impact on the neighbouring community is minimal.
“It needs to be dispersed to a level that people won’t smell it, at the very least, as frequently,” Robb told the News.
“This is where the negotiations come in. All of these things can be done, but it costs money and it’s a case of cost versus odour management.
“In our negotiations, we will be pushing towards a situation where complaints get down to a reasonable level.”
What that reasonable level is, remains to be seen. Asked whether complaints have decreased recently, Robb said there wasn’t a clear trend.
“Our own observations indicate that there are less. One of the biggest reasons, however, is the weather.
“This fall, there were a lot of temperature inversions, which traps the smells in the air more and (hence) causes more complaints.”
Robb feels Harvest is “improving” all the time, adding that, when Metro first granted a permit, “we didn’t have an accurate handle on their emissions.”
The requested limits are what Harvest has told Metro it will need to be compliant.
“Whenever the wind blows gently from the east, that’s when we feel it,” said Rick Michel. “A stronger wind is fine, as it seems to blow right past. I can smell it in Steveston, at Silvercity and in downtown Richmond.”
John Bradford, who also lives in Steveston, said he can’t even recall the first time he complained about the smell, it was that long ago.
“I live about 12 kilometres away, so that tells you how much of a problem this is.
It’s not all the time, but it’s often enough for people to be talking about it and complaining about it frequently.
“But does anyone know about the long-term effects of these emissions; especially for the more vulnerable members of society?”
In terms of people’s health, Robb said Metro isn’t overly concerned about the 1,000 per cent spike in requested emission levels of VOCs from Harvest.
What does concern him, though, are the VOCs’ contribution — especially in the summer — to the formation of ozone across the Fraser Valley.
“The number one issue is the odour and that’s primarily coming from the emissions of the VOCs,” added Robb.
“This is new ground for Metro Vancouver, however. It’s really up to the community to tell us how much this impacts their lives.
“That will determine how aggressive we need to be in the negotiating. But we shouldn’t forget that, what Harvest is doing is a good thing.”
Harvest’s Kerr said the company is in “constant dialogue” with Metro and it’s doing as much as possible to mitigate the odours.
“It’s nice that we can treat the waste as close to the source as this and it doesn’t have to be hauled for hundreds of miles,” said Kerr.
“But we want to be good neighbours.”
