Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury have agreed on an action plan for reducing the smells from the Bromley-based organics processing plant and Metro Place transfer station.

The Council-owned facilities were identified as contributing to the long-standing odour issues in the Bromley area.

Council Head of Three Waters Waste Helen Beaumont says “Living Earth, which runs the organics processing plant, has begun trialling new misters and compost recipes while EcoCentral, which runs the transfer station, is moving product into containers as quickly as possible.”

“The contractors have also engaged independent experts to review the data that has been gathered onsite so they can provide further recommendations on odour management.

“The plan is to have all operational changes and investigations completed by the end of August.”

“In collaboration with Environment Canterbury, we will then review how effective the short-term operational changes have been. If required, we will investigate medium to long-term redevelopment options, such as upgrading the tunnels at the organics processing plant or covering more of the site.”

Any redevelopment options will be put to the Council for consideration by the end of November.

Ms Beaumont says during the roll-out of the operational changes, through to the end of August, it is important people in Bromley continue to provide feedback on the odour – whether it is good or bad, strong or weak – via the Smelt-it mobile app.

“We appreciate all the feedback the community has provided to date and it would be really helpful if this could continue. The actions we have agreed to will hopefully reduce the odour problems, but it is possible that some may actually exacerbate the situation.”