Residents who live near a Perthshire chicken processing factory have accused its owners of not “giving a damn” after yet more reports of pungent smells emanating from the site.
Several people are claiming the 2 Sisters Food Group “do not care” about hideous smells coming from the Coupar Angus factory, despite being forced to investigate the problem by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).
The complaints are the latest in a long line of concerns raised by the locals.
2 Sisters faced severe criticism earlier this year when some residents stated smells from the site were making them physically sick. This followed the company being issued with a final warning in August 2016.
Officers from Sepa had visited the Coupar Angus site and established that offensive odours were noticeable out with the site boundary. This was classed as a breach of the Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit for the factory.
This lead to Sepa demanding 2 Sisters compile an action plan detailing suggested improvements to stop offensive odours being emitted from the site, and also ensure compliance with the PPC permit.
The company submitted this in September last year and undertook to improve key parts of their odour abatement system for its tanks and feather shed, increased the use of covers on skips and containers, installed automatic door closures and also pledged to have more pro-active maintenance of drainage systems.
However, Carolyn Brown, a local resident who lives near the 2 Sisters factory, said she still has had to contend with smells coming from the factory and feels something needs to be done.
“Throughout the day on Sundays and at night time always seem to be the worse for the smells,” she said.
Meanwhile, Kim Coram said: “The whole truth of the matter is that they (2 Sisters) don’t give a damn to be honest. It’s all excuses with them — I’m losing faith in the whole system.”
Fellow resident Michael Gallagher said Sepa had told him it would take some time to “fine tune” the new wet chemical scrubbers at the factory.
“However, we need to know how long this will take,” he added.
A spokesperson for Sepa confirmed they had received several complaints from residents about recent smells from the factory.
“Sepa has agreed a deadline of the end of June with the company so as to ensure the newly installed odour abatement equipment is properly connected, tested and brought effectively into operational use,” he said.
“This delay has been necessary following some initial technical issues with the installation of the new wet scrubber unit. The company is fully aware of the need to meet this deadline.
“2 Sisters are aware that compliance with their PPC permit must be ensured. SEPA has been in regular contact with the site and can confirm that works are on track to be completed by the end of June.”
The Courier contacted 2 Sisters but didn’t receive a response.
