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GuelphMercury.com – News – Cattle carcasses spill after sudden stop.
ARE YOU AWARE THAT THERE IS A SLAUGHTERHOUSE WASTE COMPOSTING FACILITY BEING CONSTRUCTED ON SPA HILLS FARM ON YANKEE FLATS RD.?
HOW WILL THIS AFFECT YOU AND YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE??
Do you think there might be an odour associated with tonnes of rotting flesh?
Do you think there is the possibility of contamination of groundwater from resulting leachate?
Do you think that this will result in the depreciation of your property value?
Do you think that your government has you and your family’s best interests at heart when sneaking this facility in behind your back without opportunity for any public input?
Do you think the owners of this facility are capable of dealing with this potentially hazardous waste in the necessary manner to ensure that the health of you and your family and that of your environment is protected?
“quality assurance of non-SRM compost relies on effective segregation/ removal of SRM”
SRM is the waste that has been proven to pose the highest risk of containing infectious prions which are responsible for the transmission of Mad Cow disease in cattle, Scrapie disease in sheep, Chronic Wasting disease in deer and elk and the dreaded and deadly Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in humans (turns the brain to mush).
This pending facility poses considerable long term risks to our health, quality of life, and environment. We feel that our governments, both regional and provincial are not taking residents’ concerns or the scientific evidence we have presented, seriously. There are no provisions in place to protect our interests should problems arise with this self-regulated industrial facility.
If you have concerns about how the implementation of this facility could negatively affect the quality of your life please join us in expressing a united voice of opposition. Email, phone, or write to the people listed on our contacts page and let them know that as a taxpaying citizen you have rights too!
Last year the residents of Silver Creek battled to keep a slaughterhouse waste composting facility out of our neighbourhood. Our faith in the democratic system was restored when the composting facility was refused the use of both provincial and federal government funds because “the cost savings did not justify the use of public funds”. This faith in democracy was short lived, as we have recently learned that the government officials involved have encouraged the proponents to proceed with the construction of this facility and have supplied them with public funds through something entitled “livestock waste tissue initiative program”. They have been approved for close to $200,000.00 of tax payer’s money without any input from any of us.
What we are now faced with is a composting facility that is using unproven technology and will require constant monitoring to maintain optimum conditions to ensure proper composting occurs. It is not realistic to think that this type of facility can be self-regulated and yet this is what is planned. The only recourse the surrounding residents will have when issues arise will be to lodge a complaint with the already stressed Ministry of Environment office in Kamloops. This slaughterhouse waste composting facility will process 4,000 tonnes of slaughterhouse waste annually which will be hauled in from several local abattoirs.
The most common response from people first learning of this method of dealing with slaughterhouse waste is “What about the smell?”. When we asked about odour at the public meetings required by last years’ proposal, the response given was that the odour would be controlled by a layer of shavings covering the pile of waste (“Are these magic shavings?”, you might ask). There were no plans for secondary odour control. This is a pile of rotting guts in an enclosed building with no other odour control but some wood shavings. Of course it’s going to stink. Have you ever smelled decomposing flesh? This has to be the most putrid stench there is. What harmful bacteria will we be inhaling?
There is only one other facility that is supposed to compost slaughterhouse waste. This facility is a pilot project at Rainer’s Meats in Darfield B.C. While this facility is a smaller scale facility, it has failed to produce usable product until recently. This type of composting requires a rapid stage of processing where the slaughterhouse waste is mixed with bulking agent (wood shavings, straw) and then stored in an enclosed area with a layer of shavings spread on top to control odour. Air is forced through holes in poly pipe that runs through the concrete floor. This is referred to as an aerated static pile. After this initial stage the partially processed product is placed in piles outdoors to “cure”. The product put outdoors to cure at the pilot project at Rainer’s Meats has had unacceptable levels of e-coli and has not been spread on the property. It has been curing outdoors for three years.
Spa Hills Farm is on Yankee Flats Rd. Just ask anyone that lives on Yankee Flats Rd. what kind of soil they have and they’ll tell you it is sand, gravel and rock and the bedrock is not that far down. There are several aquifers that originate on the Spa Hills Farm property. In the environmental assessment required by last year’s facility application the “vulnerability” of the two main streams were noted as “moderate” and “high”. One of these aquifers surfaces in the Salmon Valley. The natural course for these streams leads them to the Salmon River and eventually Shuswap Lake.
Let’s do the math. The Spa Hills Farm facility’s permit allows them to produce 4,000 tonnes annually. If we use the pilot project as an example this product will need to cure outdoors for 3 years. So now we have 3 years X 4,000 tonnes of product, gives us 12,000 tonnes of e-coli contaminated waste being produced over a three year period. These piles will be sitting on ground composed of sand, gravel and rocks with aquifers running below. The OMRR (Organic Matter Recycling Regulations) requires the curing piles to be placed on an impermeable surface. It also requires that at least half of the annual production be used on site or moved each year. The finished product is not allowed to be sold. What will be done with the excess contaminated product?
Yankee Flats Rd. is a narrow, twisty road with a steep, windy hill at the north end (which seems to be caving into the valley) and a nice switch back S curve at the south end. It is not well maintained either in summer or winter conditions. Not exactly the kind of road made for trucks carrying heavy loads of guts.
This is a complicated issue and there are many reasons that slaughterhouse waste should not be composted. Not the least of which is that the methods used in our slaughterhouses are flawed from the moment the captive bolt is used to stun the animal when it enters the abattoir. At this point the animal is stunned, but its’ vital organs are still functioning. If it does contain infected prions, they will be spread though out the animal before the carcass is even touched with a knife. Therefore any waste material may contain infected prions, not just the specified risk material. Prions have many interesting properties, they are very hard to destroy and they become even more infectious when they come in contact with soil. The slaughterhouse waste approved to be composted is declared to be non SRM (specified risk material) and therefore free of infected prions which are responsible for the spread of BSE in cattle, scrapie disease in sheep and wasting disease in deer and elk and creuzseldt-jacob disease in humans. This is not realistic.
The big picture is that composting is not an acceptable method of dealing with any slaughterhouse waste. But, we must focus on this specific composting facility and the reasons why it should not be allowed to produce 4,000 tonnes of toxic waste a year, in a rural residential area.
Putting the responsibility of dealing with this hazardous waste on the shoulders of the farmers operating these self-regulated facilities is ludicrous. The provincial and federal governments are shirking their responsibility of dealing with slaughterhouse waste using safe and sustainable methods that will protect our health and our environment. http://pointnexus.ca/wordpress/archives/256
The residents of Silver Creek have many, justified environmental and public health concerns with this facility operating in their neighbourhood. By their own admission the cost savings are minimal and yet elected government officials seem to be willing to risk the environment and our health to process this hazardous waste in self-regulated facilities using unproven technology. If there are no current rules against dealing with slaughterhouse waste in this manner then maybe it’s time we demanded some new rules.
If this can happen in our neighbourhood, it can happen in yours. Please help us by writing our elected government officials, writing to the newspapers, and voicing your concerns. This is the only way we can make a change.
