Odor emanating from Birds Eye Foods’ lagoon will be addressed by an additional filtration system and some other changes, representatives from the food processing facility say.
At a Dec. 1 county Planning Commission meeting, Pinnacle Foods/Birds Eye’s Ralph Castro and David Radtke, health and safety manager, gave an update on what actions the plant operators have taken to mitigate the odor from the wastewater treatment plant that many area residents have complained about this year.
“We strive to be good corporate citizens,” Castro said. “We take the odor complaints very seriously.”
After commission member Mark Sommers said the odor was particularly bad this year, Radtke explained that this was the first year Birds Eye has operated its new lagoon, and with that has come some operational challenges.
When the aeration process takes place at this new lagoon, the solids in the pond get churned up, and kick up a smell rather than decompose.
Now, Radtke says plant operators are investing thousands of dollars to help reduce the resulting odor.
Among the efforts already undertaken is adding to their spray field, reducing the amount of wastewater they keep on hand.
They are also looking at optimizing their application of a deodorant product, so that as the wastewater moves out of the facility, it would be treated automatically on its way to the wastewater treatment center.
To deal with the solids that sit at the bottom of the ponds, the plant has installed an additional water filtration system that will screen the wastewater before it enters the lagoon system. This doubles the plant’s screening capacity, Radtke said.
While these efforts won’t completely eliminate the odor, Radtke said he expected them to lead to improvements before next summer.
Commissioner Mike Hintz thanked the Birds Eye representatives from explaining what they were doing, also referencing the fact that Birds Eye was affected by heavy rain in September, having to end its season early to deal with excess water.
“I really believe they’ve had a perfect storm of things happen to them,” he said. “This is the first year for a new location and the first year with the rainfalls we’ve had. They’ve really had all these barriers for the first year of full operation (at the lagoon). I think they’ve shown that they’re going to do everything they can to minimize those odors.”