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Fed up and frustrated Christchurch residents have pleaded with the city council to get rid of a smelly compost plant that they say is “slowly killing them.”
Bromley residents have been complaining to Christchurch City Council about the “foul and putrid” odors and dust coming from the plant, owned by the city and run by Living Earth, for 11 years.
Anger poured into the council chamber on Wednesday when residents asked the council to move the plant to a rural area away from homes. Four residents spoke at the council meeting and five others submitted written statements.
Residents have little faith that a proposed $ 17.5 million upgrade to the plant will make any difference to the smell.
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The council is considering reducing the amount of outdoor area where compost matures from 30,000 square meters to 2,000 m2 and increasing the capacity of the aeration systems used for compost. If the measures don’t control odor, the composting area could be closed at an additional cost of $ 4 million.
Three-water and waste council head Helen Beaumont said she was confident the work would significantly reduce the odor, but it was unlikely to completely remove all of the odor.
The city council tried to stop the bad smells earlier this year, but the measures did not seem to work.
JOSEPH JOHNSON / Things
City hall staff recommended a $ 17.5 million upgrade to the composting plant to stop odors. (File photo)
Ellen King, who has lived in Bromley for 19 years, said residents were “frustrated, traumatized, angry and victimized.”
“We do not have any odor-canceling devices available and stopping breathing through the nose or mouth is not an option.”
He said the council’s inaction reinforced the feeling that anyone living in the East was considered a “second-class citizen.”
“I am really tired of being a victim in this situation. I don’t want to feel anxious every time I open a door to the outside, wondering if the bad smell will hit me one more time. “
Longtime Bromley resident Geoffrey King said that sometimes in summer, the smell was so bad that he would go to the beach and sleep in his car.
“This is what you are doing to us. You’re slowly killing us and it’s not human to live like this, “he said of the advice.
Joe Johnson / Stuff
Organic waste from Christchurch City Council green bins is composted at the Bromley plant.
Michael Williams, who has lived in the area for six months, said that the freedom to breathe unpolluted air was a basic human right, but that right had been taken away from him and his neighbors.
He said residents should be able to plan a simple barbecue without worrying about the “terrible smell.”
Residents wanted the council to move the plant to a rural area away from homes, but Beaumont said that would only fix the problem. The aim of the city council was to reduce both the smell and the dust of the place so that it was not offensive.
Any move would cost more than $ 70 million.
In a written statement, resident Andrew Walker told the council that he was robbing him of the joy of living.
“CCC be a good neighbor, fix this now.”
Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the compost plant was not the only source of odor in the area.
Her comment was met with shouts from the public gallery, claiming she was “misinformed.”
The council deferred making a decision on the upgrade until December 9, so it can hold a public information session on its plan and take residents on a tour of the plant.
