Residents near a Hastings industrial area say the rotten meat, egg, and sulphur-like smell of a nearby tannery became so bad during the summer that it clung to clothes hanging on the washing line.
Graeme Lowe Tannery Limited (GLTL) has been located at a site on Coventry Road since 1959 with relatively few issues. Three odour complaints to Hawke’s Bay Regional Council were recorded between November 29, 2017, and February 14, 2018, in an analysis of complaints between 2008 and 2019.
However, two residents believe the expansion of the site’s fellmongery operation in the last couple of years, after the sale of a Whakatū fellmonger, has caused the stench to worsen.
Fellmongery is the preparation of animal skins for leather-making, usually by removing the wool or hair from the hide.
The residents say they have made many more complaints during the previous six months between them and others nearby than what was recorded over those 11 years.
GLTL began applying in 2022 for the renewal of its resource consent to discharge contaminants, including odour and combustion gases, into the air from its plant processing hides and pelts.
An assessment of environmental effects commissioned by GLTL concluded that the odour management measures employed at the site were “the best practicable option” and that the odour was within national and international criteria.
The consent expired on May 31, 2023, but the site was allowed to operate due to Resource Management Act provisions which meant it could until a decision was made on the replacement application by the regional council.
A regional council assessment decided that limited notification of the application was appropriate for affected residents within 250m of the tannery site and 40 property owners were notified in the Kenilworth Rd and Harlech Street area.
Harlech St resident Regan Wallis moved into the area 11 months ago.
Wallis said he knew there would be some odours from Heinz and Watties in the industrial area, but he was not prepared for what he describes as a mix of rotten meat, egg, and sulphur smell from the tannery.
“It was so bad in summer that I would have to close the doors and windows because the smell would get into your house. You’d have to get your washing in,” Wallis said.
“It’s quite repulsive, I could even hear the neighbours next door yelling, ‘Close the windows’ when it was really bad.”
He said the smell was at its worst during summer, when it happened at various times during the day. It could last from 30 minutes to over an hour depending on the heat or the breeze, Wallis said.
He became concerned the company was not doing everything it could to mitigate the odour after he read an independent review of the resource consent application commissioned by the regional council.
The review, written by Pattle Delamore Partners Limited (PDP), said other tanneries in New Zealand often have odour extraction and treatment measures in place, but GLTL said extraction was not practical at its site due to the enclosed “Huni drums” they used to treat the leather.
PDP said it was aware of an odour extraction and treatment system at another tannery which also used enclosed rotating drums, meaning the use of “Huni drums” did not preclude odour extraction and treatment from the process.
However, the review said PDP agreed “in general” that the existing GLTL odour management procedures were fit for purpose, even if not “best practice”.
Martin Sturm has been a resident of Halech St for just over 30 years. He said the smell has just been getting worse in recent years due to the expansion of fellmongery activity.
“The activity has gone up. The smell each year has [got] worse especially over the last few years.”
“If they could lower the amount of odour I’d certainly be happier. I don’t want to bring it up every five minutes, because that is what has been happening.”
Wallis and Sturm both don’t want to see the tannery operations stop, but they would like conditions to be put on the resource consent to implement more odour-mitigation measures.
They said they were aware of at least five residents sick of the odour who were submitting on the renewal application.
Wallis said the scope of notification should have been broader due to the potential impact on the nearby Tōmoana Showgrounds and Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Market and the fact that the smell travelled further than 250m off-site.
The Tōmoana Showgrounds are “plains production” land with a lower sensitivity to odour according to the regional council’s assessment of notification criteria.
The PDP review’s summary of odour observations carried out by consultants Tonkin and Taylor over four separate days said the smell was described as “meaty” or “fatty” and “weak to strong” odours were observed in all the tested areas.
The smell was assessed using TA Luft criteria used by the German Government, which factors the percentage of time an odour is observed downwind with the percentage of time the wind comes from that direction.
“The highest percentage of observed odours was in the residential location at Kenilworth Road, where odours from the GLTL site were observed 50 per cent of the time (although the applicant notes this location had a limited number of observations).”
The TA Luft criteria does not have regulatory status in New Zealand and has not been validated for use in a New Zealand context.
GLTL did not respond to Hawke’s Bay Today’s requests for comment in time for publication.
An assessment of environmental effects commissioned by GLTL and finished by consultants Mitchell Daysh in November 2022, concluded that the odour management measures employed at the site were appropriate for the scale and nature of the activities and “the best practicable option”.
“In summary, the existing GLTL plant operates well within the criteria for odour set by both [national] and international benchmarks and odour observations did not detect any odour emissions that would be considered to cause offensive or objectionable odour,” the assessment said.
Regional council consents team lead Paul Barrett said a few factors had led to the processing time of the application to date, including undertaking and finalising technical reviews and Cyclone Gabrielle preventing expert site visits for assessment.
“Once the council advised the applicant that it considered there were affected parties, they took some time to consider this and assess whether they would try and obtain written approvals,” Barrett said.
“The applicant also took some time to consider the implications of the National Environment Standards for Greenhouse Gases from Industrial Process Heat, which took effect on July 27, 2023.”
The submission period closed at 5pm on Wednesday.
If residents notice an offensive or objectionable odour, they can call the pollution response team on 0800 108 838.
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz
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