Mill tackling nasty smell

By BRIDGET CARTER

A Northland mill says its equipment could be responsible for a smell that has sparked regular complaints from neighbouring residents.

Northland Regional Council air-quality team leader Paul Baynham said he received a consultant's report from Kaitaia's Juken Nissho triboard mill last week.

The report identified up to 20 possible factors linked to a strong pine tree smell coming from the mill.

Mr Baynham said the smell could be caused by three pieces of equipment - a strand drier, used to dry wood chips; relay cyclones, which separate wood fibre from the air; and the mill's two wet scrubbers, which cleaned the air before it was discharged.

It was likely there were a number of factors related to the smell.

The next step was to narrow down the sources of the odour through laboratory testing and a process of elimination.

Then a consultant could make recommendations on how to fix the problem.

Mr Baynham said the council believed Juken Nissho was breaking the rules of its resource consent by discharging objectionable odours and could face a fine up to $200,000 under the Resource Management Act.

Residents from up to 30 properties had complained over the years about the smell.

Some had said the odour was so strong it made them physically ill.

But the council would wait to see if the company improved conditions before it considered taking legal action.

The report investigating the cause of the odour comes after Juken Nissho was issued an abatement notice and fined $750 by the council this year for taking too long to produce a report on ways to reduce fibre emission levels.

But the mill's management produced the report in the past few months and had addressed many of the problems related to fibre emission, Mr Baynham said.

The sources of fibre emission had been identified and machinery adjusted.

Now, most of the complaints from the community about the mill, which makes triboard to sell in Japan, relate to odour.

This year an average of three people a week have complained to the council about the mill.