before the waikato regional council in … the waikato regional council . in the matter of the...
TRANSCRIPT
BAP-271860-59-54-V2:crg
BEFORE THE WAIKATO REGIONAL COUNCIL
IN THE MATTER OF the Resource Management Act 1991
AND
IN THE MATTER OF An application for resource consents by AFFCO NEW ZEALAND LTD to the Waikato Regional
Council for new and replacement consents for the
company’s Horotiu processing site.
STATEMENT OF EVIDENCE OF TONY WILLIAMS MILES
(Company Overview)
Counsel: T Le Bas/B Parham [email protected]/[email protected] Fax: (07) 839-4855
WESTPAC HOUSE 430 VICTORIA STREET PO BOX 258, DX GP20031 HAMILTON 3240 NEW ZEALAND PH: 07 839 4771 www.tomwake.co.nz
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INTRODUCTION 1. My name is Tony William Miles. I am the Operations Manager for
AFFCO New Zealand Limited (‘AFFCO’), a position I have held since
March 2004.
2. I completed a Diploma in Meat Technology through Massey University in
1998. I have more than 25 years’ experience in the management of
meat processing facilities, where I have held a mixture of positions
ranging from processing through to my current position as Operations
Manager with AFFCO.
3. I joined AFFCO in March 2004 after spending 17 years working in the
meat industry in various roles from processing departments through to
plant.
4. My specific responsibilities as AFFCO’s Operations Manager include
operational responsibility for a number of AFFCO’s facilities including
Moerewa, Rangiuru, Wairoa, MPB, Imlay, Horotiu, Invercargill and
Malvern. In my role I report directly to the Operations Director and
AFFCO Directors. During my employment in the freezing works industry
I have worked in ten AFFCO and AFFCO subsidiary sites, and at least
six other sites owned by Lowe Walker and Richmond Meats including Te
Aroha, Dargaville, Hawera, Waitotara and Oringi.
5. I have the overall responsibility for securing the replacement suite of
consents from the Waikato Regional Council to authorise the meat
works, rendering plant and a proposed dairy processing plant at
AFFCO’s Horotiu site, about 10km north of Hamilton.
SCOPE OF EVIDENCE 6. My evidence will address the following matters:
(a) AFFCO New Zealand Limited - company overview;
(b) Description of the Horotiu processing plant;
(c) Open Country Dairy Limited's proposed dairy processing plant at
Horotiu;
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(d) Horotiu consent compliance;
(e) Local and regional contributions by AFFCO;
(f) Upgrades and capital investment at the Horotiu processing plant;
(g) Engagement with the Horotiu community;
(h) Engagement with Waikato-Tainui; and
(i) Term of consents.
7. I am authorised to give this evidence on behalf of AFFCO.
AFFCO NZ LIMITED – COMPANY OVERVIEW
8. AFFCO was established in 1904. It is owned by Talley’s Group Limited
(‘Talley’s Group’), an international exporter of a wide range of premium
New Zealand produce. The Talley’s Group is a private company wholly
owned by the Talley family. The Talley’s Group has grown to include
four major food divisions – seafood, vegetables, meat and dairy.
9. AFFCO is one of New Zealand's leading meat companies, processing
and exporting more than 150,000 tonnes of quality chilled and frozen
beef and lamb products every year to more than 75 countries.
10. The company operates ten strategically located processing sites across
the North Island of New Zealand and two processing facilities in the
South Island, employing over 3,000 people nationwide. AFFCO is
represented on six continents through a network of overseas offices and
agents. In addition to meat exports, AFFCO is a major meat supplier on
the domestic market, supplying high value premium meat cuts for the
retail, hotel and restaurant trade.
11. AFFCO continually invests in new technology and innovative systems to
improve the quality of products and efficiencies at its sites.
AFFCO HOROTIU PROCESSING PLANT 12. Meat processing has been undertaken at the Horotiu site for over 100
years. The site is owned and occupied by AFFCO. AFFCO also
operates a rendering plant at its Horotiu site. The rendering plant
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produces a range of protein meals and tallows for both export and local
markets.
13. AFFCO’s Horotiu operations maintain stringent animal welfare, food
handling and hygiene standards. AFFCO Horotiu has ISO 9002
certification and HACCP approval from the Ministry for Primary
Industries. It is certified for Halal slaughter and is United States
Department of Agriculture (‘USDA’) and European Union (‘EU’) certified.
AFFCO Horotiu’s operations are also regularly inspected and audited by
the Ministry of Primary Industries, Ag-Research and AUSMEAT.
14. As set out in the AEE, design wastewater loadings are based on an
annual maximum anticipated processing of up to 150,000 cattle,
100,000 calves, 1,800 tonnes of dried blood and 17,000 tonnes of
rendered product. Annual production throughput over past years has
not always attained these levels in every category every year, but over
the past eight years production has been close to these maxima at
various times (Table 1).
Category Units Peak annual production
nominal capacity Max annual production in past 8 seasons
Beef Kill head 150,000 142,393
Calf Kill head 100,000 202,580
Total carcass weight tonnes 39,000 39,551
Rendering MBM + tallow tonnes 17,000 26,240
Outside whole blood tonnes 1,500 5,094
Dried blood tonnes 1,800 1,770
Salt Whey m³ 6,000 ~4,000
Table 1: AFFCO Horotiu peak capacity vs maximum values for the
past 8 years
15. In addition to treating waste from its meat processing and rendering
plants at Horotiu, salt whey from Open Country Dairy’s Waharoa cheese
factory is also treated and disposed of in AFFCO’s wastewater treatment
system. Currently up to 200 cubic metres of salt whey is delivered by
tanker weekly1, and up to 5,500 cubic metres per year. These volumes
1 The weekly volumes of salt whey are not constant throughout the calendar year, but instead fluctuate with milk production levels in response to calving etc.
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may increase in the future to 250 cubic metres and 6,000 cubic metres,
respectively.
Open Country Dairy Ltd. – Dairy Processing Plant 16. In September 2015 Open Country Dairy Limited (‘OCD’) applied to the
Waikato District Council and Waikato Regional Council for resource
consents to construct and operate a dairy processing plant on a 6ha site
owned by OCD adjacent to the AFFCO Horotiu meat processing plant.
The approximate location of the dairy plant is shown in Figure 3 on page
3 of the AEE.
17. OCD is a company associated with AFFCO through common ownership
and common directors. It is the second largest dairy processor in New
Zealand and the world’s second largest exporter of Whole Milk Products.
OCD has operations at Waharoa (Waikato), Imlay (Whanganui) and
Awarua (near Invercargill).
18. In 2007 AFFCO applied for variations to the conditions of Resource
Consents 100578 (discharge treated wastewater) 100588 (pond
seepage to ground) and 100591 (discharge to air) to authorise AFFCO
Horotiu to receive and treat dairy processing waste from the proposed
OCD dairy processing plant. The variations were granted in 2010.
19. The waste water and condensate from the dairy processing plant will be
managed in the AFFCO Horotiu meat processing plant’s waste water
treatment system and the renewal consents sought by AFFCO will
continue to provide for this.
20. The proposed dairy plant involves the development of a milk powder
processing plant with an output capacity of between 16 and 20 tonnes
per hour. Plant buildings will contain driers, boilers, various storage
facilities and administrative facilities.
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21. OCD analysed the location of existing and projected future milk
production from farms in the Waikato Region and assessed the
advantages of the proposed site at Horotiu compared to other candidate
sites, including expansion of the existing Waharoa facility. The Horotiu
site was chosen for the following reasons:
(a) Reduction in milk collection kilometres, fuel use and associated
costs;
(b) Location in an appropriately zoned industrial area;
(c) Close proximity to trunk road links; and
(d) Close proximity to skilled work force.
22. The OCD resource consent applications have just completed a section
92 further information process initiated by Waikato District Council. The
District Council will, I understand, shortly make a decision on which
notification process will apply to the applications to be decided under the
Waikato District Plan.
AFFCO HOROTIU – CONSENT COMPLIANCE 23. AFFCO is committed to being a good corporate citizen. It sets high
standards in relation to both operations and product quality. AFFCO’s
brand reputation is a valuable asset. AFFCO’s operations at Horotiu
and elsewhere fully comply with all regulatory approvals.
24. With regard to AFFCO Horotiu’s compliance with its existing resource
consents, section 1.1 of the Waikato Regional Council (‘WRC’) Section
42A Report (‘42A Report’) confirms that AFFCO achieved high
compliance in respect of the annual audits carried out by WRC for the
years 2009/10 and 2010/11. The past three years have achieved partial
compliance. This primarily relates to late or absent reporting on some
matters. Significantly the 42A Report notes that the partial compliance
did not relate to a failure to meet the environmental limits. The 42A
Report identifies on page 5 that “compliance with discharge limits have
generally been very good as has the standard of monthly reporting”.
While compliance with operational matters is high, I acknowledge that
AFFCO needs to implement better procedures to ensure high
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compliance with some aspects of the administrative reporting
requirements of its resource consents.
25. AFFCO has comprehensive compliance requirements which relate to
many elements of its business, ranging from export certification of its
products all the way through to resource consent compliance. We take
compliance management very seriously and we are currently looking at
providing additional resources to avoid any future resource consent non-
compliances.
LOCAL AND REGIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY AFFCO 26. AFFCO Horotiu is one of the largest employers in the Waikato, paying
around $22 million per year in wages and salaries. The operation
employs approximately 500 staff at peak, mainly from the local area. I
am currently working with Waikato-Tainui to recruit staff for the Horotiu
plant for the upcoming summer period. The site utilises local and
regional contractors, with a significant annual contractor spend, most of
whom then proceed to spend their income locally. AFFCO Horotiu
makes a direct annual contribution of around $110 million to the Waikato
Regional economy as illustrated by the following data for the year to 27
September 2014:
Livestock & transport $85 million
Plant salaries & wages $22 million
Plant overhead costs $0.5 million
Repairs & maintenance $1.4 million
Corporate overhead costs $1.3 million
Total $110 million per annum
27. In addition to the significant contribution AFFCO makes to the Waikato
Regional economy, AFFCO also provides scholarships for education
and training, where possible encourages internal promotions, works
closely with local schools, authorities, Iwi and voluntary organisations
including the local volunteer fire brigade.
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28. The OCD dairy processing plant will provide a number of additional
economic benefits in the Waikato Region including:
(a) The construction phase of the dairy processing plant is
anticipated to provide employment for up to 250 people,
contributing approximately $6 million in wages and salaries to the
local economy per annum;
(b) The indirect economic benefits of the construction phase are
likely to include 20 additional jobs for local residents and $1.5
million per annum in additional wages and salaries;
(c) The operational phase of the dairy processing Plant is
anticipated to generate a demand for 60 full time equivalent staff,
contributing approximately $4 million in wages and salaries to the
local economy per annum; and
(d) Upon completion, the dairy processing plant is expected to
provide direct employment within the district of 60 full time jobs.
ENGAGEMENT WITH THE HOROTIU COMMUNITY 29. AFFCO Horotiu has undertaken considerable consultation with the
neighbouring community over the past 10 years. AFFCO holds
community liaison meetings on an annual basis as a condition of its
existing resource consents. Table 59 on page 145 of the AEE identifies
the number of public attendees and the issues discussed at each
community liaison group meeting held between 2005 and 2015. The
number of people attending the meetings has dropped from a peak of 44
in 2007 to just five and nine in 2013 and 2015 respectively. I believe this
reflects the significant improvements AFFCO has made to its Horotiu
plant to address odours, particularly because this coincides with the
changes made to the rendering plants driers, evaporator and improved
extractor ventilation in 2010. Those changes have, in my opinion,
resulted in a significant reduction in odour complaints since that time.2
30. In addition to the community liaison group meetings, AFFCO sends out
regular community newsletters informing the nearby residents of the
latest changes, improvements and programmes taking place at the
2 See Figure 51 of the AEE.
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Horotiu plant. The most recent newsletter was sent out to the
community in January 2015. Copies of the newsletters sent between
June 2007 and January 2015 (Issues 1 to 7) are attached as Annexure 1 to my evidence.
31. Three residents (two of whom live locally) lodged submissions in
opposition to the current resource consent applications. Each submitter
raises concerns relating to odour. AFFCO representatives (Garry Venus
and Albert Van Oostrom) met with one submitter, Sandra Gough in
October 2015 to better understand her concerns. Mr Venus’ evidence
will discuss the meeting with Ms Gough in more detail.
ENGAGEMENT WITH WAIKATO-TAINUI 32. Mr Garry Venus’ evidence will address the attempts AFFCO has made
to engage with Waikato-Tainui both prior to and after the lodgement of
the current resource consent applications. Unfortunately, despite
continued efforts by AFFCO to engage with Waikato-Tainui, including
contact as recently as 11 November 2015, no substantive feedback or
response has been forthcoming from Waikato-Tainui. AFFCO will
continue in its efforts to engage.
33. As noted in Mr Van Oostrom’s evidence, Waikato-Tainui receive a
newsletter advising the date and time of each community liaison group
meeting held by AFFCO. No representative from Waikato-Tainui has
attended any meeting. The last meeting was held in February 2015
following a January 2015 community newsletter reporting AFFCO’s
pending resource consent applications to renew Horotiu’s existing
consents.
34. AFFCO respects the importance of the land and the Waikato River to
Waikato-Tainui and remains committed to working collaboratively and
constructively with Waikato-Tainui in relation to matters of concern to
Iwi.
UPGRADES AND CAPITAL INVESTMENT 35. Over recent years, AFFCO has extensively refurbished the Horotiu
facility to maintain the company’s position in the meat export industry. In
2005 the meat plant was rebuilt at a cost of NZ$18 million. It is now one
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of the most modern beef plants in the Southern Hemisphere, and is one
of the largest beef slaughter and processing facilities in New Zealand.
36. The present capital value of the AFFCO Horotiu facility is estimated at
around $130 million.
37. The AFFCO Horotiu wastewater treatment system has been subject to
progressive upgrading since the grant of the existing resource consents
in 2001 as shown in Table 2 below. These changes have significantly
reduced odour nuisance and improved effluent quality.
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Date Upgrade Component
Apr 2013 Scum baffle installed around aerated pond outlet weir to reduce the discharge of algae
and prevent the discharge of floatable material.
Sep 2011 New flowmeter with telemetry system installed on final effluent discharge.
Apr 2011 CCTV inspection of concrete pipes at wastewater treatment system. Minor pipeline repairs
made.
Oct 2010 Commissioned waste heat evaporator for rendering stickwater solids recovery.
Apr 2010 Solids ponds and fellmongery pond taken out of service as not currently required.
Feb 2010 Commissioned biogas flare on digester pond – flare has operated well without problems.
Nov 2009 Synthetic membrane cover and biogas collection system installed on digester pond.
Oct 2009 Decommissioned save-all tank, installed bypass pipeline and relocated fellmongery pond
feed pump.
18 Jun 2008 Installed flow-control valve on aerated pond outlet.
20 Mar 2008 Replaced save-all pump (fellmongery pond feed pump).
Nov 2007 Undertook sludge level surveys on digester and aerated pond.
Feb 2007 Added four 15 kW aspirator aerators in aerated pond.
Dec 2006 Cleaned out Solids Pond 3.
3 Oct 2006 Commissioned gravity transfer pipes between balance pond, digester and aerated pond to
replace pumped transfer. Raised operating level of balance pond and digester pond. New
inlet location for aerated pond.
Sep 2006 Relocated fellmongery/solids ponds effluent inlet to digester from NW to NE end of pond.
Sep 2006 Cleaned out disused sludge lagoon.
6 Sep 2006 CCTV inspection of pipe between fellmongery and digester ponds.
Aug-Sep 2006 Raised embankments of balance and digester ponds; installed concrete wave band around
digester pond.
Feb 2006 Commissioned new beef processing plant resulting in reduced effluent volumes.
May 2006 Decommissioned and demolished anaerobic effluent clarifiers.
Nov 2004 Cleaned out pipes and sumps between save-all and balance pond. Pipes confirmed to be in
good condition.
Dec 2003 Updated wastewater operating manual.
Feb 2003 Cleaned out Solids Pond 2.
2002/2003 Major improvements to the operation of the rendering plant DAF system.
14 Aug 2002 Final effluent flowmeter became operational.
2002 Cleaned out Solids Pond 1.
2002 Improved balance pond crust stability by operating pond at near constant level.
2002 Discontinued stirring digester pond.
Table 2: Operational changes relevant to wastewater treatment at AFFCO
Horotiu
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38. The upgrades set out in Table 2 were, in part, required by conditions of
the existing resource consents and also represent AFFCO’s
commitment to ongoing improvements in waste water treatment.
39. In the last five years or so the meat industry has faced significant issues
including: exchange and finance cost rates; foreign protectionism; aging
plant; falling stock numbers due to drought, dairy conversions and
farming viability generally; over capacity that has been exacerbated by
falling stock numbers; and, more recently, the recession in our main
markets. These issues have affected the viability of the industry as a
whole and individual companies and plants.
40. AFFCO recognises the need to modernise and streamline plants in
order to ensure the viability of group operations. The economic issues
affecting industry viability, including falling stock numbers and over
capacity, remain of concern and the imposition of unrealistic cost
burdens on the Horotiu plant will impact on its commercial viability.
TERM OF CONSENTS 41. Long term strategic commercial decisions on the investment of
significant capital expenditure requires a reasonably secure commercial,
legislative and regulatory environment. AFFCO has sought a consent
term of 35 years for the renewal of the discharge consents in order to
provide this commercial security. Parts of the Horoitu processing facility
are already approaching 30 years in age with some parts exceeding that
age. Capital investments required to upgrade and future proof this aging
plant will require millions of dollars.
42. A reduction in consent term for the discharge consents from 35 years as
applied for, to the 20 year term recommended in the 42A Report would
not provide an adequately secure horizon to enable the AFFCO Board of
Directors to make long term strategic decisions relating to the
management of the plant, or relating to ongoing investments in routine
maintenance, monitoring or upgrades. AFFCO is committed to continual
upgrades of the Horoitu site. An upgrade of the wet side to rendering
and the onsite freezer tunnel combined exceeds a $10 million dollar
capital investment. This capital investment would take the plant well
beyond a 35 year operational life, therefore serious consideration would
be required prior to any investment if a lesser term than 35 years was
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granted. Given the particular economics of the meat industry, a consent
term of only 20 years may, in many cases, not provide the long-term
security needed for investment of the nature contemplated by AFFCO
for its Horotiu plant.
43. AFFCO considers that the use of a robust review clause as a condition
of consent, together with relevant monitoring and reporting conditions,
would provide a sufficient mechanism by which the ongoing
performance of the site can be appropriately monitored and assessed
over the 35 year term sought.
44. In my opinion, based on experience with AFFCO plants elsewhere, the
inclusion of review conditions coupled with consent duration of the term
sought, will provide WRC with the security and control it requires over
the existing and proposed operations at Horotiu. At the same time this
would provide the long term security that AFFCO requires in order to
view the ongoing operation and proposed expansion of the site as an
economically viable and sustainable strategic direction for the company.
CONCLUSION 45. AFFCO Horotiu has played an important part of the Waikato Regional
economy for 100 years, contributing significantly to the social and
economic wellbeing of the region over this time. AFFCO is one of the
largest employers in the district. A 20 year consent term as
recommended in the 42A Report does not adequately reflect AFFCO’s
contribution to the community, its ongoing commitment to Horotiu and
the Waikato District, its desire to be a good corporate citizen, its
willingness to co-exist with the wider community and the commercial
environment in which it must make commercial decisions.
46. AFFCO therefore encourages the Hearings Commissioners to consider
granting the resource consents applied for on the basis of a 35 year
term.
25 November 2015
Tony William Miles
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ANNEXURE 1
AFFCO HOROTIU COMMUNITY NEWLETTERS: ISSUES 1 TO 7
AFFCO Horotiu
Community Newsletter
Issue 1 June 2007
Welcome Welcome to this first issue of
our community newsletter.
Our aim is to keep our
neighbours better informed
about what is happening at
AFFCO Horotiu.
We hope to publish this
newsletter about twice a
year to keep you up to date
with changes and proposed
developments at the AFFCO Horotiu site, and, in particular,
progress with improving odour control.
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
Kind regards
Tony Miles
Operations Manager, Corporate Office
Plant Manager returns to the fold We must be a great place to work! Jamie Ginders, the
manager of the AFFCO Horotiu plant during 2004/05, has
returned to this position after some time away working for
a competing company. We are pleased to welcome him
back and look forward to the enthusiasm and leadership he
will bring to the role.
Environmental position created In keeping with our commitment
to environmental improvement,
we have recently created a new
Environmental Officer position at
AFFCO Horotiu. This full-time
position will enable us to be more
proactive and responsive to a
range of environmental matters.
Dene Hall, who has worked in the
AFFCO Horotiu Rendering Plant
for 11 years, has been appointed
to the job. His role includes effluent and odour monitoring,
responding to odour complaints, and assisting our
environmental consultants. Dene can be contacted on
0800 341 665.
Odour improvement At recent community consultation meetings, several
attendees expressed concern about a lack of progress in
addressing odour from the AFFCO Horotiu site. We would
like to assure you that AFFCO is committed to being a good
neighbour and reducing odour levels. While we believe the
odour levels have substantially reduced over the last 10
years, the recent rate of improvement has not been as good
as we would like. We accept that further improvements in
odour control are necessary and are working on achieving
this.
Rendering plant
The rendering plant, located at the north end of the site, is
the main source of odour. In the rendering process, inedible
animal tissues and blood are cooked and dried to produce
meat and bone meal, tallow and dried blood products.
Recently, as a part of major overhaul of the rendering plant,
much work was done to improve the containment and
treatment of odorous air streams and cooking vapours. This
involved installing extraction hoods, sealing up odour leaks,
increasing the flow capacity of the air extraction systems,
and rebuilding the main biofilter. The biofilter is a large bed
of pine bark through which the exhaust gases from driers
and other sources are filtered to remove odour.
Work on improving odour control in the rendering plant is
ongoing. We are constantly working to improve plant
maintenance and reliability so that raw materials are
processed as soon as possible and odour leaks are
minimised.
One of the biggest challenges remaining is to reduce smoke
emissions from our driers. Biofilters are not very effective
at removing smoke so we are looking at other ways of
controlling smoke emissions and associated odour.
Effluent ponds
The anaerobic treatment ponds sometimes produce a
sulphurous smell, which is due to hydrogen sulphide, the
same gas found around Rotorua. Also a “rancid-fat” type
odour may be noticeable if the loading of fat and other
organic matter is high. Our primary strategy for controlling
these odours is based on minimising the amount of waste
being discharged to the ponds through effective
housekeeping and effluent pre-treatment.
We have also been working on upgrading the effluent pond
system:
• We decommissioned and demolished the redundant
anaerobic effluent clarification process, eliminating this
source of odour.
• We increased the anaerobic treatment system volume
to reduce the effective loading rate and potential for
odour production.
• We installed additional aerators in the final effluent
treatment pond and relocated the pond inlet to give
better treatment performance.
Unfortunately, over recent summer months the benefits of
these improvements have been offset by problems with
blood collection and wastewater pre-treatment. These
issues have been resolved and we expect that the benefits
of the pond system upgrade will soon become apparent.
In our continuous efforts to reduce effluent pond odour we
are improving how effluent is distributed to the various
anaerobic ponds and looking at ways of recovering more of
the renderable fat and protein before the waste enters the
ponds.
New 0800 number for odour
complaints If you are being affected by odour from AFFCO and wish to
make a formal complaint, please contact Dene Hall on
0800 341 665. Alternatively email him at
[email protected]. Complaints may also be directed to
our Environmental Consultant: Albert van Oostrom, phone
856 8367 or 027 485 9234, email [email protected]
AFFCO takes complaints seriously. For each odour
complaint, we try to identify the source and cause of the
odour, and opportunities to improve the situation.
Facts and figures Our new Horotiu beef processing plant, commissioned in
February last year, is the most modern beef plant in the
southern hemisphere. We process up to 150,000 beef
animals and 250,000 calves annually. The plant employs up
to 500 staff. One of the benefits of the new plant is that it
uses around 50% less water than the old plant.
Did you know? The rendering industry produces valuable products (tallow,
meat and bone meal, dried blood) from animal wastes that
would otherwise have to be disposed of by burial or
incineration. AFFCO operates rendering plants at Moerewa,
Te Puke, Wanganui and Horotiu. The Horotiu rendering
plant processes up to 360 tonnes or raw material per day.
About half of the raw material is sourced from other meat
processing plants. A preservative is added to keep the
transported material as fresh as possible.
Tallow accounts for around 40% of the product from
rendering. Currently most tallow is used for making soap,
but with demand for renewable energy sources on the rise,
there is growing interest in producing biodiesel from tallow.
Biodiesel can replace conventional diesel fuel in diesel
engines. It will be interesting to see how the biodiesel
industry develops in New Zealand.
Proposed dairy processing plant AFFCO is branching into dairy processing through a wholly
owned subsidiary. Dairy Trust proposes to build and
operate a milk powder plant on the AFFCO Horotiu site,
between the AFFCO Corporate Office and the main trunk
railway, just south of the existing beef processing plant. The
plant will have the capacity to process 1 million litres of
milk per day. While this sounds like a lot, Fonterra’s
Te Rapa factory can process more than 8 times this daily
volume.
Planning for the new plant is at an early stage and focussed
on ensuring that any environmental effects will be minor.
Consent applications have been lodged with Environment
Waikato to change two of AFFCO’s discharge consents to
permit the discharge of dairy processing wastewater into
the existing AFFCO ponds. These consents are for the
discharge of contaminants to air and the discharge of
treated wastewater to the Waikato River.
For both consent applications, AFFCO is not seeking any
increase in the level of contaminants permitted to be
discharged. The additional wastewater load will be
accommodated within existing consent limits by pre-
treating the dairy wastewater in a new membrane-covered
anaerobic lagoon and making minor changes to the
operation of the pond treatment system. Odour will be
controlled by containing and flaring the biogas from the
new anaerobic lagoon and ensuring that the dairy
wastewater is well treated before it enters the AFFCO
ponds.
Applications for Land Use and Air Discharge consents for
the dairy plant will be lodged when siting and design details
have been sorted out.
Environment Waikato will be notifying the applications to
all affected parties. AFFCO will ensure that neighbours who
might be affected will be notified.
Brickbats or bouquets - we welcome
your feedback Please feel free to give us any feedback on our
environmental performance. We would also welcome any
suggestions as to how we can make this newsletter more
informative.
Key contacts are:
Tony Miles (Operations Manager) 829 2888
Jamie Ginders (Plant Manager) 829 9501
Dene Hall (Environmental Officer) 0800 341 665
Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367 or
027 485 9234
AFFCO Horotiu Community Newsletter Issue 2 April 2008
Hello again Welcome to this second issue of our community newsletter. We hope to continue to keep our neighbours better informed about what is happening at AFFCO Horotiu and let you know about changes and proposed developments at the AFFCO Horotiu site.
Kind regards Jamie Ginders Plant Manager
In this issue • Community liaison meeting • Changes to air discharge consent • Other consents changed • Dairy plant progress • Odour improvment plans • Odour questionnaire • Environmental Officer • 0800 number • Email or snail mail? • Your feedback is welcome
Community liaison meeting You are invited to attend our next community liaison meeting to be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday 8 April 2008 in the Horotiu Primary School Hall, Horotiu Bridge Road.
The purpose of the meeting is to:
• Outline options being considered to further improve odour control
• Discuss concerns that neighbours may have • Introduce an odour diary/survey programme
If you cannot attend this meeting and have particular comments or concerns that you wish to pass on, or if you wish to receive a copy of the meeting notes, please contact Dene Hall (phone 0800 341 665 or email [email protected]).
Changes to air discharge consent In January this year, Environment Waikato granted changes to our resource consent for odour discharges from the Horotiu plant to accommodate the planned dairy processing operation.
In granting the consent, the Environment Waikato hearings committee has significantly beefed up the consent conditions. New conditions include the following:
• That the new anaerobic pre-treatment lagoon for dairy wastewater and the existing anaerobic digester pond are both to be covered with a synthetic cover and the biogas flared.
• That the anaerobic digester pond cover and flare are to be installed and operational within 6 months of the consent being granted.
• That a laboratory-scale trial be undertaken of the proposed new anaerobic pre-treatment lagoon to verify whether the treatment system would perform as described in the consent application.
• Various conditions to avoid overloading the aerated pond in the event that the new anaerobic lagoon does not treat the dairy wastewater as well as planned.
• Various conditions to ensure that the covers and flares work properly.
• A condition to prevent odour from solid waste discharged into the wastewater treatment system.
• That the frequency of community liaison meetings be increased to 6-monthly unless otherwise agreed by the community members.
AFFCO has appealed the conditions relating to the 6-month period for covering the digester pond and the requirement to undertake and report on a laboratory trial of the new anaerobic treatment lagoon. We are currently negotiating these conditions with Environment Waikato.
We would like to make it clear that we offered to install a cover on the anaerobic digester pond and are committed to eliminating odour from this source. We are seeking a few more months to either install the cover or investigate and install a new large covered anaerobic lagoon system that could deal to odours from all of the anaerobic ponds for good.
You can read an Environment Waikato press release regarding the consent application at: http://www.ew.govt.nz/newsandevents/mediareleases/mr1275851.htm
Other consents changed We have also been granted changes to two other consents to accommodate the effluent from the planned dairy processing operation. These consents authorise discharges of effluent pond seepage to ground and treated wastewater to the Waikato River.
The changes to these consents were minor and did not involve any increase in the level of contaminants permitted to be discharged. The additional wastewater volume and pollutant load will be accommodated within existing consent limits.
Dairy plant progress Planning for the new milk powder plant is still at an early stage. Dairy Trust, the owner of the proposed new dairy plant, has recently lodged a consent application with Environment Waikato to relocate and culvert an open drain running through the site of the proposed dairy plant between the AFFCO corporate office and the main trunk railway.
Dairy Trust will also lodge Land Use and Air Discharge consent applications for the dairy plant when siting and design details have been sorted out.
Odour improvement plans Despite ongoing improvements in odour control systems, we have received an increase in odour complaints during recent months. We have made many fundamental improvements but it is becoming clear that some larger projects are going to be necessary to meet community expectations for odour reduction.
The digester pond, which has historically been the most odorous pond, has produced very little odour over the last two years. Other anaerobic ponds in the system are now the main cause of effluent odour complaints. As is often the case with odour, when one source is reduced, other sources become more apparent.
To more completely address pond odour, we are investigating the feasibility of replacing the anaerobic ponds with new technology: one or two large covered high-rate anaerobic lagoons. We are also looking at using the biogas for fuel in the plant boiler or driers.
Odour complaints relating to the rendering plant have mainly been due to problems with smoky emissions from the aging direct-fired meal driers. Repairs will soon be made to reduce this smoke, but for a more complete solution, we are looking at the feasibility of replacing these driers with steam-heated driers. Steam-heated dryers would eliminate the smoke and greatly reduce the volume and temperature of drier emissions discharged to odour treatment systems, freeing up treatment capacity to deal with other emissions in the rendering plant.
Over the next few weeks a new rendering plant is being commissioned at AFFCO Wairoa. As a result, the Horotiu plant will no longer process Wairoa offal on a regular basis and the average age of offal processed at Horotiu will reduce. We expect that this development will help to reduce rendering odour.
We are aware that many of our neighbours are concerned about a lack of progress in addressing odour from the AFFCO Horotiu site. We would like to assure you that AFFCO is committed to being a good neighbour and reducing odour. While we believe the odour levels have substantially reduced over the last 10 years, the rate of improvement has not been as good as we would like. We accept that further improvements in odour control are necessary and are working on achieving this.
A comprehensive odour-reduction plan with budgeting and timelines is being prepared and should be completed by
30 September this year. We will summarise the plan in the next community newsletter, and will schedule another community meeting to explain the plan and timelines.
Odour questionnaire Included with this newsletter is a questionnaire. We would greatly appreciate you spending a few moments completing the questionnaire and returning it in the self-addressed envelope provided. A good response rate will help us to monitor odour effects on the community.
Environmental Officer Last year we created a new Environmental Officer position at AFFCO Horotiu. This full-time position has enabled us to be more proactive and responsive to a range of environmental matters. Dene (pronounced “Dean”) Hall is enjoying the challenges of his new position. His role includes effluent and odour monitoring, responding to odour complaints, and assisting
our environmental consultants. Dene can be contacted on 0800 341 665.
0800 number for odour complaints If you are being affected by odour from AFFCO and wish to make a formal complaint, please contact Dene Hall on 0800 341 665. Alternatively email him at [email protected]. Complaints may also be directed to our Environmental Consultant: Albert van Oostrom, phone 856 8367 or 027 485 9234, email [email protected]
AFFCO takes complaints seriously. For each odour complaint, we try to identify the source and cause of the odour, and consider opportunities to improve the situation.
Email or snail mail? Currently we distribute this newsletter by a mailbox drop and send a few copies by post and email.
If you would like to receive this newsletter by post or email, please let us know by contacting Albert van Oostrom, email: [email protected]; phone: 856 8367.
If you know of anyone who does not receive a copy and would like to, let us know.
We welcome your feedback Please feel free to give us any feedback on our environmental performance. We would also welcome any suggestions as to how we can make this newsletter more informative.
Key contacts are: Tony Miles (Operations Manager) 829 2888 Jamie Ginders (Plant Manager) 829 9501 Dene Hall (Environmental Officer) 0800 341 665 Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367 or 027 485 9234
AFFCO Horotiu Community Newsletter
Issue 3 December 2008
Greetings Since our last newsletter and community meeting in April, we
have been working to develop a new odour control plan for
the site. I am pleased to announce that environmental
upgrades costing a total of $4‐5 million have been approved by
AFFCO’s board for
implementation in 2009. Please
read on to find out more about
our plans and other news about
the Horotiu plant. We hope that
you will be encouraged by the
progress we are making.
Kind regards
Jamie Ginders
Plant Manager
In this issue Community liaison meeting
New odour control plan
Wastewater treatment improvements
Questionnaire results
Odour diary
0800 number
Community liaison meeting You are invited to attend our next community liaison meeting
to be held at 7:00 pm on Monday 15 December 2008 at the
AFFCO Corporate Office, Horotiu
The main purpose of the meeting is to provide more
information on our odour control plans and answer any
questions that you may have.
We appreciate that this is busy time of year for everyone, but
we would like to ensure the community is well informed of our
plans. If you cannot attend the meeting and have particular
comments or concerns that you wish to pass on, please
contact Dene Hall (phone 0800 341 665 or email
New odour control plan In October we submitted an outline of our new odour control
plan to Environment Waikato for their consideration. The plan
addresses all three of the main sources of odour from the site:
the rendering plant, anaerobic effluent ponds and paunch
spreading. Key aspects of the plan are summarised below.
Rendering
The biggest change to the rendering plant will be the
replacement of direct‐fired meal dryers with steam‐heated
contact dryers. Steam heated dryers are environmentally
best‐practice technology. Benefits include:
Elimination of the visible smoke and smoky odour
produced by the existing meal dryers.
An 80‐90% reduction in emissions from the meal drying
process, which will free up capacity in the biofilter for
deodorising emissions from other sources in the rendering
plant. The lower volume of dryer emissions will also enable
us to cool the gases to a lower temperature.
With no smoke, and lower gas temperatures, the biofilter
will perform better and last longer.
The new dryers will come with an evaporator that uses
waste heat in the dryer vapour emissions to recover
product from the stickwater waste stream. This will greatly
reduce the loading on the effluent ponds, and the
increased product yield will help to offset the cost of the
new process. Again, this technology is environmental best
practice in rendering.
We will also reduce leakages of odour (fugitive emissions) from
cooking and drying processes. This involves increasing the
number of points from which we capture odorous vapours for
treatment in the biofilter, and increasing the total volume of
collected gases 2 to 3 fold.
Wastewater treatment Previously AFFCO had committed to covering the digester
pond with a synthetic membrane to eliminate odour from this
source. The new plan also includes covering the balance pond
to provide a more complete odour control solution. The total
area of ponds to be covered is around 12,000 square meters.
We will collect the biogas from both the digester and balance
ponds and deodorise it by burning it off in a flare. In future we
might use the biogas as fuel in the plant boiler.
We do not expect that we will need to cover other anaerobic
ponds at the site. The three anaerobic solids ponds produce
very little odour and the loading on the “fellmongery” pond
will be kept low to avoid nuisance odours from this source.
Another effluent odour source we plan to eliminate is the
“save‐all” tank. We will decommission the tank next year.
Digester Pond Balance Pond
Paunch spreading We spread paunch grass (cattle stomach contents) onto
paddocks around the site as a source of fertiliser and method
of disposal. Historically we spread the material as fresh as
possible to avoid strong odours that can result if the material is
left piled up for a few days. But spreading even the fresh
material caused odour complaints from time to time.
For six months, we have been using a new method for handling
the paunch. This involves holding the material in small discreet
piles or windrows around the site for 6‐12 months to stabilise
it before spreading. We are finding that leaving the paunch in
undisturbed piles produces little odour, and expect that
spreading the stabilised material will not cause a problem.
By the way, you may have noticed that we are growing a crop
of maize on paddocks alongside Washer Road. Because maize
cropping has a high nutrient requirement, we are permitted to
apply twice as much paunch onto the cropped land than onto
grazed pasture. The cropping ensures that we have enough
land on which to spread all of our paunch grass.
Wastewater treatment improvements The odour control improvements are part of a wider plan that
includes improving effluent quality and cost‐effectively
treating effluent from Dairy Trust’s proposed Horotiu dairy
processing plant.
Several changes to effluent treatment are planned, including a
new proposal for treating wastewater from the dairy
processing plant. The previous proposal involved constructing
a new covered anaerobic lagoon for pre‐treating the dairy
effluent before further treatment in the existing pond system.
The new proposal involves discharging the dairy effluent
directly to the existing ponds. We will create capacity in the
existing ponds to accept the untreated dairy effluent by:
recovering almost 100% of the rendering stickwater waste
as meat and bone meal product in the planned new
evaporator;
recovering solids in the beef plant effluent by chemical
treatment and dissolved‐air‐flotation (DAF), and processing
these solids through the rendering system; and
various modifications to minimise the hydraulic loading on
the anaerobic ponds.
The reduction in wastewater solids will more than offset the
additional input of dairy wastewater. In fact, we expect
substantial reductions in many pollutants compared to current
levels, including a 30% reduction in the effluent nitrogen
discharged to the River.
Covering the balance and digester ponds will almost eliminate
odour from these sources. The odour will be controlled
equally well with or without the treatment of dairy effluent.
Questionnaire results Thank you to the 61 individuals or households who responded
to the odour questionnaire that we sent out with the last
newsletter. A summary of the results is given below. The wide
range of responses reflects different circumstances
(e.g. proximity to the plant) and sensitivity to odour.
We regret that many people are annoyed by odour from our
activities and very much hope that this situation will improve
greatly with the completion of planned upgrades.
Odour diary Many thanks also to the 17 individuals and households who
participated in the six‐week odour diary programme carried
out around May this year. The number of odour events
recorded ranged from 0 to 9 per participant, with an average
of around four records each. Four participants did not record
any odour. As with the results for the questionnaire, exposure
to odour tended to reflect proximity to the plant. The location
of diarists ranged from 100 m to 2.7 km away from the Horotiu
site.
By checking the records against wind direction data from our
weather station, we found that most of the recorded odour
events were consistent with having come from AFFCO.
The effluent ponds and rendering plant were identified as the
main causes of odour.
0800 number for odour complaints If you are being affected by odour from AFFCO and wish to
make a formal complaint, please contact Dene Hall on
0800 341 665. Alternatively email him at
[email protected]. Complaints may also be directed to
our Environmental Consultant: Albert van Oostrom, phone
856 8367 or 027 485 9234, email [email protected]
We welcome your feedback Please feel free to give us any feedback. Key contacts are:
Tony Miles (Operations Manager) 829 2888
Jamie Ginders (Plant Manager) 829 9501
Dene Hall (Environmental Officer) 0800 341 665
Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367 or 027 485 9234
AFFCO Horotiu Community Newsletter
Issue 4 December 2009
Greetings This year we have been working on implementing the odour
control plan outlined in our previous newsletter. One of the
anaerobic effluent ponds has been covered with a membrane
to contain odour, and two new low‐emission dryers are
scheduled to be installed in the rendering plant early next year.
Please read on to find out more about the progress we are
making with controlling odour at the site and other news
about the Horotiu plant.
We wish you all a very happy Christmas and a prosperous and
enjoyable New Year.
Kind regards
Jamie Ginders
Plant Manager
In this issue Summary of odour control and
wastewater upgrade plan.
Progress on odour
improvements.
Progress on wastewater
upgrades.
Proposed milk powder plant.
Community liaison meeting.
Odour control and wastewater plan In our last newsletter (December 2008), we introduced a new
plan for upgrading odour control and wastewater treatment at
the Horotiu site. The planned odour control improvements
include:
Installing two new low‐emission meal dryers in the
rendering plant.
Upgrading the emissions extraction system in the rendering
plant.
Decommissioning the "save‐all" tank at the effluent
treatment plant.
Covering the anaerobic digester pond to contain biogas
emissions for deodorisation by flaring .
The planned changes to wastewater treatment involve:
Installing a waste heat evaporator in the rendering plant to
recover almost 100% of the strong "stickwater" waste
stream as product.
Recovering solids from the beef plant effluent by chemical
treatment and dissolved air flotation (DAF), and processing
these solids through the rendering system.
Various modifications to reduce the volume of wastewater
flowing through the anaerobic treatment ponds.
The latter upgrades are designed to improve the quality of
treated effluent as well as create capacity to treat effluent
from the proposed Open Country Dairy Ltd (formerly Dairy
Trust Ltd) milk processing plant at Horotiu.
As part of the process to obtain an air discharge consent for
treating the milk processing effluent in the AFFCO ponds, a
detailed report of these plans was submitted to Environment
Waikato for their consideration in April 2009. Environment
Waikato's advisors have given the report a favourable review
and we are now working to finalise the conditions of the
consent.
Progress on odour improvements Rendering
AFFCO is spending approximately $3 million to upgrade odour
control and effluent treatment in the rendering plant. The first
step, a new roof on the rendering plant, was completed in
October 2009.
Major site work is scheduled to begin on 26 April 2010, with
the installation of two new steam‐heated contact dryers to
replace existing direct‐fired dryers. Benefits of the new dryers
will include:
Elimination of the visible smoke and smoky odour
produced by the existing meal dryers.
An 80‐90% reduction in emissions from the meal drying
process will free up capacity in our biofilter to deodorise
emissions from other sources in the rendering plant. The
lower volume of dryer emissions will also enable us to cool
the gases to a lower temperature.
With no smoke, and lower gas temperatures, the biofilter
will both perform better and last longer.
At the same time, the system for extracting odour emissions
from the rendering process will be upgraded by increasing
both the number of points from which we capture odorous
vapours for treatment in the biofilter, and the volume of
emissions extracted.
The upgrade work is expected to take 3‐4 weeks during which
the rendering plant will be shut down, and raw material
trucked to other rendering plants.
Save‐all bypass
The "save‐all" (see photo overleaf) is an old effluent
sedimentation tank, which, in recent years, has been used only
as a pump station. In October 2009 the save‐all was taken out
of service by installing a new pump station and bypass
pipeline, thereby eliminating odour from this source.
The old effluent "save‐all" is no longer an odour source.
Anaerobic pond cover
In early November the anaerobic "digester" pond was covered
with a 2mm thick plastic membrane made of UV‐resistant high
density polyethylene (see photos below). Floats and pipes
under the cover assist the collection of biogas for flaring.
With just the cover and pipework in place there has already
been a noticeable reduction in odour. Next month the flare will
be installed to burn the biogas and eliminate the remaining
odour from this pond.
Removing floating weed from the digester pond.
Preparing the cover anchor trench in the earth around the pond.
The cover in place, November 2009.
An engineering investigation is being undertaken into covering
the "balance pond", which is another anaerobic pond about
the same size as the one shown.
Progress on wastewater upgrades The most important of the planned wastewater treatment
improvements is the new waste heat evaporator, which is
scheduled to be installed with the new rendering plant dryers
in April 2010. The evaporator will use waste heat from the new
dryers to concentrate and recover product from the rendering
stickwater waste stream. The result will be a greatly reduced
loading on the effluent ponds, improved effluent quality and
more capacity to treat effluent from the proposed milk powder
plant.
Other planned upgrade work, such as the DAF treatment of
beef plant effluent, will follow the installation of the
evaporator and be completed before the milk powder plant
begins operating.
Proposed milk powder plant Plans for Open Country Dairy's proposed milk powder plant at
Horotiu are progressing.
AFFCO has applied to Environment Waikato for changes to
three consents to permit treatment of the dairy plant
wastewater in the existing AFFCO ponds. Two consents
relating to pond seepage and the discharge of treated effluent
to the Waikato River were granted in January 2008. Changes to
the third consent, for discharges to air, are currently being
finalised with Environment Waikato.
Applications for Land Use and Air Discharge consents for the
dairy plant have yet to be lodged so it is still too early to say
when the new factory will become operational.
Community liaison meeting Our last community liaison meeting was held in December
2008. The turnout was low, perhaps because the meeting was
too close to the peak of the holiday season.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 2010 to avoid the
Christmas rush. We will send out details closer to the date.
0800 number for odour complaints If you are being affected by odour from AFFCO and wish to
make a formal complaint, please call us on 0800 341 665.
Complaints may also be directed to our Environmental
Consultant: Albert van Oostrom, phone 856 8367 or
027 485 9234, email [email protected]
We welcome your feedback Key contacts are:
Tony Miles (Operations Manager) 829 2888
Jamie Ginders (Plant Manager) 829 9501
Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367 or 027 485 9234.
AFFCO Horotiu Community Newsletter
Issue 5 April 2010
Greetings Welcome to our fifth community newsletter. We
distribute these newsletters to about 400 households
and businesses in the Horotiu area, and to other
interested parties.
The purpose of the newsletter is to let you know about
the work we are doing to address odour issues and other
environmental matters at the Horotiu site.
We hope you appreciate
the progress we are making
and welcome any feedback
you may have.
Kind regards
Jamie Ginders
Plant Manager
In this issue Odour control plan update
Biogas flare
Community liaison meeting
Odour complaints
Key contacts
Odour control plan progress update In our last newsletter (December 2009), we described
our plans to upgrade odour control and wastewater
treatment. The schedule and progress to date are
summarised in the table below.
We intended to start the rendering plant upgrade (tasks
4‐6) later this month, but now have to delay this work by
three months.
The Horotiu offal was going to be trucked to our Imlay
and Rangiuru rendering plants during the upgrade.
However, because of a boiler problem at Imlay, they do
not have the capacity to take the Horotiu offal.
We now plan to begin the upgrade on 22 July 2010. This
date coincides with the end of the beef‐processing
season and the start of the calf season, when offal
production will be low enough for it to be processed
entirely at the Rangiuru plant.
We regret this delay and will endeavour to minimise
odour and smoke from the existing plant.
Odour control and wastewater system upgrade plan
Task Timing
1. Decommission save‐all tank Completed October 2009
2. Cover digester pond Completed November 2009
3. Commission digester pond flare
Completed February 2010
4. Install low‐emission contact dryers in rendering plant
Scheduled to begin in the week of 22 July 2010 (previously scheduled to begin in late April 2010)
Rendering plant to be shut down for at least three weeks
5. Install stickwater evaporator in rendering plant
6. Upgrade rendering odour extraction system
7. Treat beef plant effluent in the rendering DAF system
Before commissioning of proposed dairy processing plant. No date set yet.
8. Cover balance pond
9. Install balance pond effluent recycle system
10. Divert solids pond and fellmongery pond effluents to aerated pond
11. Demolish save‐all tank and dispose of residual save‐all solids
To be determined
The two new low‐emission dryers are on site, ready for installation.
Biogas flare In February, we installed a flare to burn the biogas
produced by our covered anaerobic effluent pond.
Flaring effectively eliminates the sulphurous odour of the
biogas.
A solar‐powered ignition system produces a spark every
1.5 seconds to reignite the flame if it goes out, but we
have not seen it go out! The flare is designed to produce
stable combustion even under extremely windy
conditions.
A solar‐powered fan assists the flow of biogas through
the flare and ensures that little or no biogas escapes
unburned.
We estimate that the digester pond produces 50 to 100
cubic metres of biogas per hour. Burning this flow of
biogas produces 300‐600 kW of heat.
Potentially we could use the biogas as fuel in the plant
boiler, but the amount of biogas produced is not likely to
be enough to justify the costs involved, which include
drying, storing and transporting the biogas, and
modifying or replacing the boiler’s burner.
Flaring deodorises the biogas produced by the covered anaerobic pond.
Community liaison meeting Ten Horotiu residents attended our community liaison
meeting on 1 March 2010. We held the meeting at our
effluent treatment plant to show the biogas collection
and flaring systems in operation, and discussed plans for
further odour control improvements.
The next meeting will be in early 2011. We will send out
details closer to the date.
New Rendering Plant Supervisor We are pleased to
announce that we have
appointed Carl Bell as
the supervisor of the
Horotiu Rendering
plant. Carl replaces
Colin Hanson who
headed the rendering
plant for 9 years.
Carl has worked as an
operator in the
rendering plant for
8 years, and is relishing the challenges of his new role.
Odour complaints So far this season we have received 50% fewer odour
complaints than for the same period last year. This
improvement has several possible causes including the
covering of the anaerobic digester pond and an
extremely late start to the processing season. In
addition, very little offal from outside sources has been
processed in the rendering plant this year, and it is likely
that this situation will continue for the rest of the
season.
If you are being affected by odour from AFFCO and wish
to make a formal complaint, please call us on
0800 341 665. Complaints may also be directed to our
Environmental Consultant: Albert van Oostrom, phone
856 8367 or 027 485 9234.
We welcome your feedback Key contacts are:
Jamie Ginders (Plant Manager) 829 9501
Carl Bell (Rendering Supervisor) 829 9514
Dene Hall (Environmental Officer) 0800 341 665
Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367
AFFCO Horotiu Community Newsletter Issue 6 April 2012
From the Plant Manager I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rebecca Ogg. I have taken over from Jamie Ginders as Plant Manager for AFFCO Horotiu. Jamie moved to Melbourne last November to take up a senior position with JBS, the world’s largest meat processing company. We wish him all the best in his new job.
I have worked here at Horotiu for four years as Production Manager. Before that, I worked at Auckland Meat Processors and completed a postgraduate diploma in meat industry operations.
I intend to continue Jamie’s commitment to ensure that we are a good neighbour and minimise our environmental impacts. In the 2 years since our last community newsletter, we have been busy implementing additional odour control improvements, in particular the installation of low-emission meal dryers, a waste-heat evaporator and new odour extraction equipment in the rendering plant. We hope you have noticed a substantial reduction in odour from our site and look forward to your feedback via the attached questionnaire and at our community liaison meeting on 16 April.
Please read on to find out more about the odour control improvements and other news about the Horotiu plant.
Kind regards, Rebecca Ogg Plant Manager
In this issue • Odour questionnaire
• Community liaison meeting
• Odour control progress update
• Air discharge consent finalised
• New cooling towers
Odour questionnaire Included with this newsletter is a questionnaire. Please take a few moments to answer the questions and return the completed form in the self-addressed envelope provided. A good response rate will help us to assess the effectiveness of our new odour controls and if any improvements are required.
Community liaison meeting We invite you to attend a community liaison meeting
at 6:30 p.m. on Monday 16 April 2012 in the boardroom at AFFCO’s Corporate Office, Horotiu.
The purpose of the meeting is to:
• Summarise recent odour control improvements. • Discuss any concerns neighbours may still have. • Discuss frequency of future meetings.
If you cannot attend this meeting and have particular comments or concerns that you wish to pass on, or if you wish to receive a copy of the meeting notes, please contact Albert van Oostrom, ph. 856 8367, email [email protected].
Odour control progress update In previous newsletters, we outlined odour-control plans for our site. We are pleased to announce that we have completed the planned improvements on schedule. In October 2010, we commissioned two new dryers and a waste-heat evaporator in the rendering plant, and in February 2011, we completed an upgrade of the rendering plant’s odour extraction and containment systems. Over the next few months, we will upgrade odour control systems in the blood drying plant.
Process changes to improve odour over the past four years are summarised in the table overleaf. They appear to be paying off – so far this processing season we have not received any odour complaints.
The two new low-emission meal dryers.
Summary of recent odour-control improvements Date Upgrade/change Benefits
Jun 2008
Discontinued rendering of raw material from AFFCO Wairoa
On average, rendered raw material is fresher and produces less odour
Oct 2009
Decommissioned save-all tank
Odour source eliminated
Nov 2009
Anaerobic digester effluent pond covered with a membrane
Odorous biogas from this pond is contained
Feb 2010
Began flaring the digester pond biogas
Burning the biogas eliminates its offensive odour
Oct 2010
Commissioned two new low-emission contact dryers for drying meat and bone meal in the rendering plant
• >90% reduction in odorous emissions from meal drying
• Elimination of smoke emissions
• Improved treatment of emissions in the odour-control biofilter
Oct 2010
Commissioned a waste-heat evaporator to recover product from the rendering stickwater waste stream
• Reduction in odour emissions from uncovered ponds
• Large improvement in effluent quality discharged to river
Feb 2011
Completed upgrade of rendering odour containment systems
Improved containment, cooling and treatment of rendering emissions
The new waste-heat evaporator recovers almost all rendering stickwater waste as product – reducing pond odour and improving effluent quality.
Air discharge consent finalised Last year, changes to our air discharge consent were finalised and signed off. The changes permit wastewater from the proposed Open Country Dairy Ltd Horotiu factory to be treated in our effluent ponds. Before treating the dairy factory wastewater, AFFCO is required to meet several conditions to ensure that the wastewater does not cause nuisance odour. These conditions include the following:
• Covering the anaerobic balance pond and digester pond and flaring the biogas. (We have already done this for the digester pond.)
• Provide reserve treatment capacity in the aerated pond (additional mechanical aeration as required) to prevent any odour from this pond.
Open Country Dairy still has to apply for Land Use and Air Discharge consents for the dairy plant, so it is too early to say when the new factory will become operational.
New cooling towers In December last year, we began operating new cooling towers for cooling our refrigeration plant. Previously we used large volumes of river water for this purpose. One benefit of the cooling towers is that they have reduced the volume of water that we take from the river by approximately 70%.
New evaporative cooling towers began operating in December 2011.
Odour complaints If you are being affected by odour from AFFCO and wish to make a formal complaint, please call us on 0800 341 665. Complaints may also be directed to our Environmental Consultant: Albert van Oostrom, phone 856 8367 or 027 485 9234.
We welcome your feedback Key contacts are:
Rebecca Ogg (Plant Manager) 829 9501
Carl Bell (Rendering Supervisor) 829 9514
Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367
AFFCOHorotiuCommunityNewsletter
Issue 7 January 2015
FromthePlantManagerIt is almost 3 years since our last newsletter. However,
since then, we have kept in touch with two community
meetings.
The focus of this newsletter is to let you know that many of
our site resource consents are due to expire in July 2016,
and we are in the process of preparing applications to
replace them.
As part of this process, we would like to invite you to a
community consultation meeting on Monday 9 February.
Please read on to find out more about our consent
applications and the community meeting.
Kind regards
Rebecca Ogg
Plant Manager
InthisissueResource consent applications
Water take from river
Diffuser structure
Wastewater discharge
Dairy processing wastewater
Community consultation meeting
ResourceconsentapplicationsOn the 1st of July 2016, most of the resource consents held
by AFFCO for the Horotiu site will expire. We are currently
in the process of preparing applications for replacement
consents from the Waikato Regional Council. The existing
consents to be replaced are listed in the table.
AFFCO is proposing three main changes to existing
consented activities, as follows:
A 70% reduction in the permitted water take volume.
Retention of the existing effluent/stormwater outfall
location for discharge of stormwater only, and
construction of a new effluent diffuser on the riverbed
approximately 200 metres upstream of the existing
one.
The discharge of treated effluent to the river at the
new diffuser location.
Resourceconsentstobereplaced
No. Activity Authorised
100578 Discharge up to 7000 cubic metres of treated
wastewater per day and associated stormwater to the
Waikato River.
100580 Discharge up to 42,700 cubic metres per day of
condenser cooling water, stormwater and filter
backwash to a tributary of the Waikato River.
100586 Discharge up to 15 cubic metres per day of pressed
paunch grass to land.
100588 Discharge effluent treatment pond seepage to ground.
100589 Discharge biofilter seepage to ground.
100590 Discharge treated septic tank sewage to ground.
100591 Discharge contaminants to air from rendering, blood
processing, wastewater treatment systems, a gas‐fired
boiler and miscellaneous emissions related to meat
processing.
100592 Take up to 29,000 cubic metres per day from the
Waikato River.
100593 Place a diffuser structure on the bed of the Waikato
River.
122160 Place a stormwater / cooling water outfall structure and
associated control structures on the bed of the Waikato
River.
Further details are given below.
WatertakefromriverIn December 2011, we began operating new cooling towers
for cooling our refrigeration plant – replacing the use of
large volumes of cooling water from the river. Because of
this change, and other improvements in water use
efficiency at the site, we can reduce our water take limit.
We are seeking consent to take up to 8,500 cubic metres of
water per day on a 7‐day running average basis, a reduction
of 70% from the current limit of 29,000 cubic metres per
day. We also propose to reduce the maximum abstraction
rate from 370 litres per second to 150 litres per second in
line with current pumping capacity and requirements.
Nearly all of the water returns to the river as cooling water
or treated effluent, so AFFCO’s take has no effect on the
volume of water available for downstream users.
DiffuserstructureThe existing effluent diffuser structure in the Waikato River
is over 50 years old and requires replacement. We propose
to remove in‐river elements of the outfall pipe and retain
the pipe at the riverbank for discharging stormwater from
car parking areas. For discharging treated effluent to the
river, we propose to apply for consent to install a new
diffuser on the riverbed approximately 200 metres
upstream of the existing diffuser – as shown below. The
new location has much better access for the construction
and maintenance of a diffuser structure.
The proposed diffuser design involves a single outfall
pipeline buried in the bed of the river with four risers and
eight diffuser ports near the centre of the river and close to
the riverbed.
WastewaterdischargeThe main proposed change to this activity is to discharge
treated effluent at the new diffuser location.
The existing consent allows AFFCO to discharge up to 7,000
cubic metres of treated wastewater and associated
stormwater per day at a rate of up to 100 litres per second.
The new diffuser has been designed for this flow. The
designers, CEE Consulting Environmental Engineers (based
in Australia) specialise in the design of outfall diffusers.
They have determined that the diffuser will achieve a
minimum dilution of 200:1 within 200 metres downstream
of the diffuser and 20 metres from the riverbank – under all
conditions that we can expect to see. The rapid dispersion
of the discharged effluent will avoid potential adverse
effects of the discharge on aquatic organisms, recreational
water users and AFFCO’s water supply.
With waste minimisation and treatment improvements in
recent years, AFFCO’s wastewater discharge consistently
complies with all applicable consent limits.
DairyprocessingwastewaterAFFCO’s existing discharge consents allow for wastewater
from a proposed Open Country Dairy Ltd milk processing
plant at Horotiu to be treated in AFFCO’s effluent ponds. In
our new consent applications, we are seeking to retain the
ability treat the wastewater from a possible future dairy
processing plant at Horotiu.
The additional wastewater volumes and loads from the
proposed dairy processing plant can be accommodated
within existing consent limits. We will not be seeking to
increase any discharge limits.
Before accepting any dairy factory
wastewater, AFFCO will be
required to upgrade aspects of the
treatment plant to ensure that the
additional wastewater load does
not cause nuisance odour.
The timing of the dairy processing
plant is uncertain at this stage.
Open Country Dairy (OCD) has yet
to apply for Land Use and Air
Discharge consents for the dairy
plant. Installation of the plant
cannot begin until all necessary
approvals have been granted to
AFFCO and OCD.
CommunityconsultationmeetingWe invite you to attend a community consultation
meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday 9 February 2015 in
the Cafeteria at AFFCO’s Corporate Office,
Great South Road, Horotiu.
The purpose of the meeting is to:
Provide further information on the consent applications
being prepared and seek feedback on our plans.
Discuss any environmental concerns that you may have
about our activities.
If you cannot attend this meeting and have particular
comments or concerns that you wish to pass on, or if you
wish to receive a copy of the meeting notes, please contact
Albert van Oostrom, phone 856 8367, email
WewelcomeyourfeedbackKey contacts are:
Rebecca Ogg (Plant Manager) 829 9501
Paul Geddes (Plant Engineer) 021 791 260
Carl Bell (Rendering Supervisor) 021 791 085
Albert van Oostrom (Environmental Consultant) 856 8367