Locals have complained of a consistent strong and sickly odour affecting suburbs including Altona North, Brooklyn, Sunshine West, Sunshine North, Deer Park and Ardeer.
Brimbank resident Liz Barrow first noticed the pungent smell on Monday 5 January when she was driving near Little Boundary Road and Pipe Road in Laverton North.
“It‘s pretty revolting. It makes you feel like you want to throw up … Just imagine a rotten, chemical smell and you can’t escape it,” Ms Barrow said.
Ms Barrow said the odour was likely worsened by extreme hot weather days and wind this month.
“[The odour] is not constant at least,” she said.
Ms Barrow was among multiple locals who submitted odour reports to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) throughout the week.
In an email response to Ms Barrow, sent on Tuesday 13 January, EPA said its officers conducted odour surveys on Wednesday 7 January, and believed the odour was coming from a meat waste processing plant in the Brooklyn area regulated by the EPA.
In the email, the EPA said it will “assess compliance by the established deadlines” but did not provide specific dates.
“If compliance is not achieved, escalation via other enforcement tools will be applied,” the EPA stated in its response to Ms Barrow.
EPA west metro regional manager Julia Gaitan told Star Weekly the EPA prioritises odour reporting, particularly in the Brooklyn area.
“In this instance, our officers have inspected a business, a local rendering plant known to us, they believe was the source of multiple reports from the public,” Ms Gaitan said.
“We have been in contact and expect the business will look into their processes to ensure they’re doing as much as possible to reduce the risk of odour releases, as is required under the general environmental duty provisions of the Environment Act.
“Further action is likely by EPA but as with any legally enforceable action, EPA must respect due process and limit its public commentary while those processes are worked through.
“EPA encourages community members to report odour so we can track it down and take appropriate actions.”
The EPA said it was not able to name the company, citing legal reasons.
