Are you concerned about the Coldstream stench?

18 May 10 @ 05:46pm by Alex Munro

COLDSTREAM residents fear their homes will again be saturated by a stench if Australian Native Landscapes is allowed to restart composting. 

Yarra Ranges Council and the Environment Protection Authority are reviewing applications by ANL to modify its Coldstream operation, with decisions likely within two months before hearings involving the site reappear in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. 

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Work proposed by ANL includes building a receivables shed, aerated covers on all windrows piles and bio-filters for emissions treatment.

But Coldstream resident Maria Rowland is apprehensive about whether any changes to the green waste processing operation could smell pleasant. 

“They’ve had about six tries at getting it right already,” she said. “We don’t want to go through another experiment; we are like guinea pigs. We are absolutely fearful of it re-starting.” 

Despite opening to fanfare in 2006 the compost facility has faced strong community opposition after it started emitting odours that Mrs Rowland likened to the smell of vomit. 

Matters before VCAT are expected to resume after June following the resolution of the applications to the EPA and Yarra Ranges Council.

In June 2009 an enforcement notice was issued preventing the company from bringing waste to the site. The order was altered in December to allow processing of on-site waste. 

Yarra Ranges Council planning services manager Kim Marriott said the ANL application lodged in February was expected to come before council in June. The EPA expects to make a decision by the end of May. 

ANL has contracts with Manningham, Knox, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges councils to process kerbside-collected green waste into compost. ANL Coldstream manager Tony Farriciello would not comment while the issue remained before VCAT.