Raising a stink: Arthur residents call for better odor control at compost plant

ARTHUR – If you’ve ever driven in or near Arthur, you’ve probably smelled “the smell.”

“No matter how the wind blows, it smells like someone dropped poop in your yard,” said Arthur resident Stacy Ireland. “It’s horrible”.

Often compared to dog feces or rotting food, most residents blame the smell on Walker Industries, a composting facility located at 109 Wellington Road that processes compost material from municipal green bin programs, including food waste. Wellington County, commercial and institutional businesses in which millions of dollars have recently been invested. into new composting infrastructure at its Arthur site.

As the expansion continues, some residents both in the community and online say they believe they’ve experienced the odor more frequently this summer and are reaching out to the facility for answers and stronger methods to combat the odor.

“Sometimes you hang your laundry out the back to dry, and sometimes you don’t,” said resident Brad McGowan, commenting on how the smell of the compost has gotten “a little worse” since the expansion.

A lifelong Irish resident who could smell the smell even when she lived on the other side of town wants to know why Walker’s smell remains so strong compared to neighboring farms.

“They can’t use Febreeze or anything else to improve the smell, but…there has to be a way,” Ireland said.

Comparing the smell to “rotten cooked food,” resident Donna Williams said when she moved to Arthur, the smell used to be once a month every four to six weeks. Now it seems “more often.”

“Residents, we all say the same thing – don’t move to Arthur, it stinks,” Williams said.

And it’s not just the smell, Williams said, who said it creates a red, slimy residue that forces her to change the water in her bird bath once a week.

“These are leftovers. A lot of people will say they left the rug and then after it rains they’ll pick it up and it’s red,” Williams said. “It’s air quality. Maybe we can put up with the smell, we put up with it, but this is what we breathe.”

When asked what odor reduction measures Walker Industries is taking, media representative Cody Cabral said the company has been a “proud local operator and community partner” since 2016 and plays a “key role” in helping the community manage its organic waste while promoting soil. healthcare and circular economy.

While the company has not increased its approved recycling capacity, Cabral said a recent “extensive upgrade” has introduced additional GORE composting chambers with the GORE Cover composting system, which can “control the composting environment while reducing odors.”

The compost receiving building, which is used to receive, shred and organize waste, is also equipped with a ventilation system that passes air through a three-phase cross-flow chemical scrubber with a minimum odor removal efficiency of 75 percent and exhausts. into the atmosphere through a chimney.

In an emailed statement, Wellington North chief executive officer Brooke Lambert said the district had heard concerns about odor from Walker’s in the past but had not seen an increase since the expansion, adding that the company had been “very open” in communication with town residents and the public when they had questions.

“We take feedback from our neighbors and communities very seriously and are committed to operating to the highest standards of operational and environmental safety,” Cabral said. “We invite community members to contact us directly so we can address any concerns that may arise.”

Ultimately, most residents agreed that Walker’s positives outweighed the negatives—they would just like to see a more permanent solution to the odor problem.

“I’m not being poisoned or anything, so you’ll just have to deal with it,” McGowan said.

If residents have any questions or concerns, they are asked to contact Adam Egan, Business Operations Manager for Walker’s Environmental Division at (email protected)

Isabelle Buckmaster is a reporter for GuelphToday, a local journalism initiative. LJI is a federally funded program.