Tuna plant equipped with ‘very advanced technology’ to manage air emissions - Aquaculture CEO
The controversial tuna recycling plant, which Birżebbuġa residents say is responsible for an ‘unbearable stench’ over the seaside village, is equipped with very advanced technology when it comes to the control of air emissions, the CEO of the plant’s operator, Charlon Gouder, told journalists on Wednesday.
Gouder, who is the CEO of Aquaculture Resources Limited, said that their permits adhere with the environmental processes which one would need to endure in order to be able to operate such a plant.
Journalists were invited to attend a tour of the factory in ĦalFar, after Birżebbuġa residents, together with the NGO, Moviment Graffiti, have been protesting against a “stench” that they said was coming from the plant.
During the protest, Moviment Graffiti said that if matters were not going to be fixed, then it was going to escalate matters by making sure that the stench disappears by closing it down themselves.
However, Gouder invited any Birżebbuġa resident to go to the plant and smell the air for themselves, so that they would be able to know that the smell is not coming from there.
Journalists were shown around the plant and asked to smell a sample of fish food if they wished, which indeed smelt nothing like fish.
Gouder said that the operators have held regular meetings with local councils, and further added that they were also given the opportunity to go and see how the factory operates.
"I am not saying that residents are not smelling anything; I am saying that the plant is not producing smells”, he said.
In explaining how the air is circulated, the factory manager said that thanks to certain equipment the pressure inside the factory is kept a little lower than that present outside, meaning that the air inside does not go out.
Apart from that, there are also two extractors inside the building itself, which treat the air with UV lights and ozone gas, which is a reactive gas that kills bacteria. Additionally, granulated carbon is also used to filter the air before it is let out of the two chimneys present atop of the building.
Answering questions by this newsroom on where the suspected smell might be coming from, Gouder said that he can only speak for the plant itself, and that it would be presumptuous of him if he had to speculate on the reasons for the complaints being made by the residents.
He said that when they were receiving complaints during the first few weeks of the factory’s operation, he and his team had gone to Birzebbuga as the “first few weeks were a learning curve for everyone.”
He said that the Environment & Resources Authority (ERA) had carried out a total of 60 inspections on the plant, and “it appreciated that it was doing things well” since the factory was never ordered to stop operating.
Aquaculture Resources Limited began operating last October, with Gouder explaining how there is nothing like the plant around the European Union. The plant recycles the scraps of Bluefin Tuna scraps into fish food and into oil for pet food, which can only be found in Malta.
Gouder said that Malta is one of the top players in the tuna industry, whilst noting that despite the country’s small size it still manages to produce double what Spain produces.
The company is treating its current operations as a testing phase, and is not excluding that in the future it will be participating in other industries, such as the pharmaceutical and cosmetic sectors.
Additionally it is also currently investing in an incubation centre, where the factory’s current operations and their impacts will also be studied. It is also liaising with the University of Malta, in order to explore the possibility of offering lectures and inviting students to share their ideas for the blue economy and aquaculture.
If a student comes up with a worthy idea, Gouder said that the company is ready to offer mentorship, and even to help them in making business plans.
The factory produces and exports approximately 20,000 tons of products every year.