Sylvie Paillard
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After two years of complaints, the pesky and sometimes overwhelming odours caused by Carney's composting operation will finally be dealt with, one way or another.
Squamish council gave Carney's Organic Recycling formal notice of a hearing to be held March 21 to consider the termination of the company's business licence for "non-compliance with operating conditions of their licence, specifically that there be no odour at the boundaries of the property" on Queens Way in the Squamish Business Park.
"I take this very serious and I have ever since I opened the plant," said business owner Owen Carney. "I spent over a million dollars more than we had originally budgeted to get the odours under control and we're still working toward that to get it so it's passably odour-free at the property line."
Carney's Waste Systems opened an organic recycling and composting facility on Queens way, and a rezoning bylaw was permitted based on assurances that no odours would emanate from its facility. But those assurances fell flat as soon as the first load arrived to the five-acre composting area in February 2004. Carney's moved the curing operation, thought to be the source of the odours, to a landfill site near the Cheekye Fan in November 2004, but the odours persisted. Carney said the company is now trying out another system that will solve the problem.
"[In the past] we would have to move it with a loader in the atmosphere all the time," said Carney. "As of this coming week we'll put the compost in a bin and cover and take it out so we don't have to be moving it in the yard. That will make the difference."Municipal staff put forward three options for council's consideration: the first is to revoke Carney's Organic Recycling's business licence, the second is to suspend the licence and the third is to enforce a relocation plan.
The suspension or termination of the business licence would also mean the suspension of six full time workers, or $500,000 in direct and indirect wages, according to a staff report. But the decision would not affect Carney's garbage pick up service throughout the district.
"It's completely a separate company, different structures, different owners, everything," said Carney.
The organic recycling does pick up the district biowaste, however, about 1,600 tons of it. The company also turns 1,300 tons of wood waste and 250 tons of commercial waste that would otherwise be buried in a landfill into high quality topsoil sold in Squamish and Whistler.
"We're one of the stars as far as the recycling organic regulations of British Columbia go," said Carney. "They were just here and audited us in January, and we meet all their regulations."
Councillors Corinne Lonsdale and Raj Kahlon both expressed regret that the company had to face the measures council was taking."It's a difficult action," said Lonsdale. "Some of the [council] members met with Owen and we're hopeful it'll be resolved in one week. I'd really like to see us on March 21 confident that there are no odours and not feeling obliged to continue."Carney also expressed regret.
"We built it where it was because we were trying to move the recycling business along and we should have taken the couple of years and gotten the land up in the landfill and done it there," he said. "If I had to do it again, that's what I would do."
