Firm roasted with $8k fine

Residents unhappy to wake up and smell the coffee have led to an Auckland company being fined $8000.

Avalanche Coffee was sentenced for discharging "offensive" odours while roasting beans at its Kelston premises.

Neighbours said they had to close windows to keep out the smell. Kris Hope-Cross said the "putrid, sickly smell" had been going on for 18 months, and workers had suffered from headaches and burning eyes.

Jillian Pahau, who lives and works nearby, said it was a "bitter, acidic smell, that gets up your nose".

She said complaints had been made several times a week, but the smell had often dispersed by the time pollution officers arrived.

Avalanche director Stefan Marusich said the complaints began after the business moved to the premises in 2008.

He believed the company had done everything possible to eliminate the odour, including raising the height of the top of the chimney and fitting an afterburner, which reduces smell by burning off the smoke from roasting.

"We're a small company and in a perfect world we would have fought [the prosecution], but we didn't have the funds," he said. Marusich said the fine would have a big impact on the operation. "We employ 10 people and it's putting their jobs at risk and putting our whole business at risk."

Council air quality team manager Gareth Noble said five complaints had been "verified", leaving no choice but to prosecute.

Officers described the smell as a "strong odour of burnt toast or burnt coffee" and considered it "offensive".

Noble said the company took steps to limit the smell after an abatement notice was served in 2008, but complaints continued. Further work was done after charges were laid.

Avalanche pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court last month to two representative charges of discharging odour and contravening an abatement notice.

The company was convicted and discharged on the first and fined $8000 on the second. It was also ordered to pay legal fees of $113 and court costs of $130. The sentence took into account the $20,000 it had spent on equipment and consultancy fees.

Council environmental management committee chairwoman Dianne Glenn was pleased with the prosecution, and that the company was now complying with regulations.

New Zealand Coffee Roasters Association president Chris Dillon said roasting produced a distinctive, "biscuity" smell.

"You wouldn't relate it to coffee if you didn't know that's what it was."

Dillon said roasters were aware of the issue and the decision was unlikely to have wider implications for the industry.