Waste Site The Source Of Stink

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday September 10, 2008

By TYRON BUTSON

RUTHERFORD manufacturer Truegain has been suspended from operating after a report identified it as the source of foul odours that have plagued the suburb for years.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change suspended the company's licence yesterday to operate from its site in the Rutherford industrial area, because it had failed to provide sufficient odour control systems to deal with emissions.

Rutherford residents have complained of bad smells over the area for years, repeatedly demanding action from state politicians.

A community group of citizens brought the issue to the attention of the department earlier this year.

The department said deficiencies in the pollution control system at the Truegain site, which receives, stores and processes waste oils and oily water emulsions to produce recycled petroleum-based products, were the reason for the smell.

"The company has failed to demonstrate that pollution control and monitoring equipment, essential to minimising odours . . . is operating effectively," the department's deputy director general Joe Woodward said.

"This follows an odour survey earlier this year as well as a number of warnings from [the department] and a Notice of Intention to Suspend which gave Truegain the opportunity to correct the problem."

While the odour survey, conducted between May and June this year, did not reveal definitive proof that the site was the sole source of the odours, Mr Woodward said he was confident the company was at fault.

Over a four-week period, numerous air samples were taken to test odours around the industrial site and to determine their source.

"This is not a decision we have taken lightly but one that we feel was necessary," Mr Woodward said of the licence suspension.

Truegain could not be reached for comment last night.

The suspension order will come into effect on September 30 and will remain until further notice.

The department is expected to continue monitoring in the Rutherford area.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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