Public to get say on waste plant

Every summer the smell of death descends over the east Vancouver waterfront. Sometimes it’s for a few hours, sometimes it’s for a few days.

“It’s pretty disgusting,” said Vancouver East NDP MLA Shane Simpson.

“And I certainly get why people tell me ‘Look, I can’t even go and sit on my back deck in the summer or have a barbecue if it’s bad.’ Because it’s really bad. And I’ve smelt it enough times to know they’re right.”

The smell mainly comes from the West Coast Reduction plant at the northern foot of Commercial Drive, which processes animal waste.

“It’s bits and pieces of fish heads, fish guts, chicken parts, other things,” explains Ray Robb, district director of Metro Vancouver’s Environmental Regulation and Enforcement department. “They don’t process beef, but (they do) all other animal processing.”

West Coast Reduction has to renew its operating permit this year. So Metro Vancouver is seeking comments from the public about the facility, which has been operating at the site since 1964.

Ken Ingram of West Coast Reduction said the company has spent millions of dollars trying to reduce the smell through odour control equipment, a new thermal oxidizer and reconfiguring “room air scrubbers.”

“The number of odour complaints over the last two or three years is about half of what it was two or three year ago,” he said.

Metro Vancouver’s Robb said the number of complaints from the public about West Coast Reduction varies, from a hundred to several hundred annually.

“They have treatment systems that discharge air contaminants (through smokestacks),” he said. “The treatment systems are a certain amount effective, but not 100 per cent. They don’t remove 100 per cent of the odours.”

Metro Vancouver issues five-year permits to companies that have odour issues like this.

It isn’t the only company in the neighbourhood that the public complains about. Bad smells can also come out of Hallmark Poultry Processors at 1756 Pandora.

People who want to comment about the issue can email westcoastreductioncomments@metrovancouver.org