Compost stench sickens children, Christchurch council hears

Children living with the stench of the Christchurch compost plant are suffering sore stomachs, chest infections and asthma, city councillors have heard.

Community members have made impassioned pleas for the council-owned Living Earth organic processing plant to close immediately, saying the foul smell is ruining their health and quality of life.

Bromley School teacher Cathy Baker told this morning's council meeting classrooms were full of flies and students were often sick.

"Our number of absentees is huge - kids with sore tummies, chest infections, coughs, asthma," she said.

"Some days we cannot let our children play outside. We don't know what is happening inside their lungs."

Some children could not walk to school, Baker said.

"Enough is enough. We're treated like second-class citizens because we live in Bromley. Why should I even bother paying my rates?

"It's going to cost $41 million I hear to close the plant. Give me a truck and digger, I'll do it for $20 million."

Baker presented Mayor Phil Mauger with letters from local children.

Bromley School pupils Phoenix, 8, and Kara, 9, told councillors the smell was ghastly.

"We can smell it at school and at home - it smells like rotten cheese and fish. Can you please tell them to fix it right away? A lot of people cannot open their windows and people cannot go outside," Kara said.

Directly addressing the mayor, 10-year-old Irie said she was sick of playing in the smell.

"Some of my classmates have asthma and it's horrible for our health. It's not just at our school - it's near our home where there are new-born babies and sick families," she said.

"Sometimes we miss learning and fun trips because of the smell."

The city council has pledged to move the plant and has short-listed six replacement sites, although it could take up to six years before a new facility is up and running.

Councillors today voted to consult the community and mana whenua about whether to continue composting at the plant, with more changes to reduce the smell, send kerbside green waste to alternative commercial composters, or truck organics to Kate Valley landfill.

Through tears, Bromley's Vickie Walker told councillors she had never been so unwell.

"I had pneumonia in January, a lung infection in May, now asthma and shingles. I can't live the way I want to on my property and in my community," she said.

"I feel trapped and a prisoner in my own home, held captive to a foul odour."

Walker said the compost plant polluted her air daily, so she could not use her home ventilation system, open her windows, go for daily walks, hang her washing outside or tend her garden, and her grandchildren could not walk to school or play outside.

"Fresh air shouldn't be a privilege," she said.

Walker's neighbour, Katinka Visser, tearfully pleaded with councillors to shut the compost plant immediately.

"The foul stink that this plant emits isn't allowed, but somehow this plant gets away with it. Living Earth is not complying with its consents," she said.

"Do the right thing and close that damn stinking plant right now."

Bromley's Bruce King said Living Earth was not an organic processing plant but an "odour-producing plant" that had caused ratepayers years of anguish and health problems.

"It should be closed right now to stop the mental anguish before the spring/summer season starts, because it's going to be another stinker," he said.

Waitai Coastal-Burwood-Linwood Community Board deputy chairperson Jackie Simons told councillors said the people of Bromley had been treated appallingly and were not "dollar-figures on a piece of paper".

She said consultation would only cause further delays and it was highly unlikely people living elsewhere would agree to a rates rise to dispose of their green waste.

Mauger told the meeting he did not want the plant open one second longer than necessary.

"It's just running good money after bad," he said.

"Instead of spending it down there, I'd rather spend it on dump fees taking it away."

Following the meeting, Linwood councillor Yani Johanson said today's decisions were a significant step forward in stopping composting at the Bromley site, which had caused people years of stress and frustration.

"I thank them for never giving up, continuing to lodge complaints, and making deputations to highlight the environmental injustice that is occurring," he said.

"I am committed to working with them to get the operation moved. It is inherently unfair that those residents on the eastern side of the city have paid the price of the green bin system with the loss of their quality of life."

Council staff have warned the plant's immediate closure could cost ratepayers $41m over five years and lead to 55,000 tonnes of waste being dumped at Kate Valley.

The regulator - Environment Canterbury - has issued the council 15 infringement notices relating to odour breaches since the start of the year, with fines totalling $7000.