Coal Point residents trapped by smell from Awaba green waste recycling plant
Residents of a tiny lakeside town have been confined indoors by the foul smell from the rotting food inside Lake Macquarie City Council’s new “organics processing facility”.
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A regional NSW council’s radical plan to recycle its residents’ food scraps is on the nose and under review after a cloud of “vomit-like” smell enveloped the suburbs surrounding the town tip.
One year since Lake Macquarie City Council teamed up with Remondis Australia to open its “organics processing facility” at the Awaba Waste Management Facility, the community of Coal Point, population 1730, remains hostage to the prevailing winds.
Resident Yvonne Nichols said she woke one morning last summer to an intense and foul smell.
“I thought there was something dead or very off in the house,” she said. “I searched everywhere.”
She soon realised the stench was coming from the waste facility where food scraps, including meat and bones, are “processed, heated and aerated” to produce compost.
“It’s a smell of vomit that goes all through the house if you leave the windows open,” she said.
“We can’t eat or entertain outside. It’s just awful, and it’s getting worse and worse.
“I’m all for recycling and composting but this is crazy.”
Since July 2018, Lake Macquarie residents have been getting used to a three bin waste management system, that now includes a “green bin” for food waste.
Green bin waste is then transformed into compost at the Lake Macquarie Organics Resource Recovery Facility and reused on parks, gardens and sporting fields.
When the facility opened last year, the council’s sustainability manager Alice Howe said the “technology” would transform scraps into compost in a matter of weeks.
“Food waste of every description from fruit and vegetables, meat and even bones will be processed, heated and aerated over a period of weeks to produce quality compost,” she said.
Mrs Nichols said she first complained to the council in March, and visited the waste management facility with a council officer.
“They had two large heaps of the food and green waste, which they move from heap to heap and it’s the exact same vomit smell that goes through our house,” she said.
“I don’t know where to go from here. Remondis say they want to be a good neighbour but we can’t live like this with a house that smells like vomit.
“There has to be a way to deodorise it.
“I understand Remondis are putting up probes in the area to investigate.”
A council spokeswoman confirmed the council had received complaints and had directed Remondis to engage an independent expert to carry out further investigation.
“We will continue to keep the community informed about this matter and encourage residents to continue to contact us about their concerns,” she said.
“Council is aware of odour issues that may arise from the new organics processing facility from time to time.
“The production of compost has the potential to generate an odour, and our initial investigations have found that this may increase in certain weather conditions or operational practices such as turning the piles.”
Lake Macquarie state independent MP Greg Piper said he had received concerns from local residents regarding the smell and approached council about the matter.
He was still waiting a formal response to the concerns.
The aim of the council’s multimillion-dollar facility was to significantly reduce the amount of waste going into landfill.
When it was launched in 2018, Remondis chief executive Luke Agati said the facility would convert 44,000 tonnes of organic waste into compost each year.
When the compost system was introduced, the general waste bin collection, or “red bin” was cut back to a fortnightly basis.
Green waste, including food scraps and grass clippings, is collected weekly.
Last December, residents complained that the new regime meant the general waste and green bins were being overtaken by maggots.
A petition with 9000 signatures was submitted to council asking for general waste to be reinstated to a weekly collection, highlighting items such as dirty nappies as a major problem.”
Council provides advice on its website on how to avoid maggots and smells from dirty nappies.
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