Billy Bowie Special Projects based at Kilmarnock in Ayrshire failed to comply with a condition within its permit, which stated that all emissions should be free from offensive odour. The composting firm pleaded guilty at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) received a number of complaints about unpleasant smells at the Moorfield Industrial Estate. It visited the site on numerous occasions between September and December 2013 and sent its findings to the Scottish public prosecutor (the Procurator Fiscal).
SEPA made Billy Bowie aware of the public complaints regarding offensive odours as well as those that it had substantiated.
Gavin Ferguson reporting officer at SEPA said: “The odour had a significant impact on the lives of people living and working near the site.
“Complainants have explained that the odours have prevented them from opening windows at their homes or using their gardens, and in some cases they did not want to go outside at all. Complainants described the odour as ‘heavy and sickening’, and ‘horrible’, ‘heavy’ and ‘putrid.’”
Plea
Billy Bowie also pleaded guilty to keeping and managing waste including fish waste in a manner likely to cause pollution of the environment or harm to human health in that they:
- Failed to carry out adequate checks to, and maintain, the biofilter (which controls odour),
- Failed to take adequate measures to ensure that a roller door was closed, which enabled odour to escape.
- Increased the quantities of fish waste received on site without taking adequate measures to account for the increased odour production.
SEPA received a call at the end of October that the company’s biofilter was completely dry. The biofilter only works if it is kept moist because it is the bacteria living in it that de-nature the odorous compounds.
SEPA advised the company to stop taking fish waste until the biofilter was working again. But fish waste continued to be brought onto site until 11 November and composting continued and never halted.
Ferguson added: “Billy Bowie Special Projects Limited operates a process which is inherently odorous and there are conditions in their permit which, if complied with, should ensure that offensive odours do not leave the site.
“By failing to comply with certain conditions of their permit and also failing to properly maintain the biofilter, the company have caused a significant negative impact to the local area. By keeping a proportion of the site’s fish waste unrefrigerated in the reception building for several days as part of the bulking-up activity, they further added to their likelihood of creating odour.”
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