Dairy company Parmalat Food Products has been issued with a
Prevention Notice by the EPA following complaints about foul odours coming from
its factory in western Sydney.
Neighbours of the dairy processing facility on Birnie Avenue
in Lidcombe have complained for the last two months about the problem. Residents
have complained that the smell is like ‘sour milk’ and a ‘sewer’.
Following multiple site inspections where EPA officers
detected the strong and offensive odours offsite, Parmalat has been issued with
the notice requiring them to engage a suitably qualified consultant this week
to deliver recommendations to the EPA by May 27.
The consultant will be required to undertake a comprehensive
site odour assessment identifying and prioritising potential sources that may
be contributing to the offsite odour and developing short, medium and long term
management options.
EPA Manager Sydney Industry Greg Sheehy said the Prevention
Notice was designed to provide expedited relief to nearby residents and
businesses while the EPA’s investigations continue.
“We believe that the initial odours may have been related to
360,000 litres of wastewater that turned anaerobic so our investigations are
looking into why this occurred and how the company then dealt with the
incident,” Sheehy said.
“EPA inspections have also identified other potential
sources of odour which is why the Prevention Notice requires a range of onsite
sources to be investigated.
“These odours have been very unpleasant for neighbours of
the Birnie Road site so our aim is to address this issue as quickly as
possible.
“By getting an expert on-board to assess the situation we
hope to get some practical solutions in place to mitigate the offsite impacts
and hopefully eliminate them from re-occurring down the track.”