A west Roscommon factory has been found to be non-compliant in terms of emissions following a recent environmental inspection.
Aurivo, based in Ballaghadereen has apologised to the people of the town for odours emitting from the facility which has caused significant local concerns in recent weeks.
The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed to Shannonside FM at the end of July that they had received a complaint about a smell in Ballaghaderreen and were investigating its source as residents in the town had been left frustrated after enduring what was described as an unpleasant stench for a number of weeks.
It has now been confirmed that a recent EPA inspection of the dairy ingredients facility in Ballaghaderreen found it was in breach of three conditions of its emission limit values.
In a statement to Shannonside FM, the firm has confirmed that the three conditions exceeded recently are suspended solids, ammonia and Chemical Oxygen Demand (C.O.D).
The firm claims that they are working closely with the EPA and Aurivo's service providers to comply with licence emission limits and they aim to be fully compliant with these conditions in the coming days.
The company has also confirmed that it intends to undertake works to prevent future unpleasant odours from escaping from the facility which will take a maximum of 18 months to complete and have started immediately.
The firm is also apologising to the "local community for any inconvenience caused by any odours emanating" and claim they will continue working on this to fully resolve the issue and ensure full compliance.
The full statement from the company is below:
"Aurivo Co-Operative confirms that following a review by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its Dairy Ingredients facility in Ballaghaderreen that it has been in breach of three conditions of its emission limit values.
The three conditions exceeded recently are suspended solids, ammonia and Chemical Oxygen Demand (C.O.D). Aurivo are working closely with the EPA and Aurivo’s service providers to comply with our licence emission limits and we aim to be fully compliant on these conditions in the coming days.
Aurivo takes the matter of compliance with the EPA’s conditions very seriously and as part of our Aurivo Environmental Management Plan, we have also conducted a detailed Odour Monitoring survey to identify and alleviate intermittent odours from the site. We have implemented a work programme to alleviate odours, including covering open tanks, and we have begun to apply odour filtrations across the plant.
To ensure our Dairy Ingredients Plant in Ballaghaderreen, operates to the highest standards, we will be implementing further measures to ensure our effluent system always operates in a compliant manner and removes any remaining odours that can sometimes come to fruition during spells of warm weather.
These improvements have started immediately and will be implemented over a maximum period of 18 months. We are already seeing an improvement following the installation of a new aeration unit to improve the process in recent days.
Other planned actions by Aurivo include:
• Installation of new control and monitoring equipment to improve the operation of the plant.
• Covering of tanks where odour may arise and the installation of an odour filtration system.
We wish to apologise to the local community for any inconvenience caused by any odours emanating from the Aurivo Dairy Ingredients Plant. The resolution of any odour and compliance issues are of the highest importance to Aurivo, and we will continue working on this to fully resolve the issue and ensure full compliance."
Seperately, the EPA released a statement on the inspection this afternoon:
In recent weeks the EPA has received a significant number of complaints regarding bad odours from the Aurivo facility, license no PO802-03, Ballaghdereen, Co Roscommon. EPA Inspectors have been to the Aurivo Dairies Ingredients site on several occasions over the past number of weeks, the most recent being on 1st September 2022. A report on the findings of the recent inspections carried out by the Agency at the Aurivo Dairy Ingredients is being prepared for issue to the licensee.
The EPA has detected significant odours to be emanating from the Aurivo Dairy Ingredients facility in recent weeks and has informed the licensee of these. The Agency has determined that Aurivo Dairy Ingredients are in breach of a number of conditions of their Industrial Emissions (IE) licence and Aurivo Dairies Ingredients have been advised of these breaches.
The EPA is considering further enforcement actions in this regard.
