By Alva Solomon

FOR almost 16 years residents of the Timehri Public Road who live in the vicinity of a poultry feed mill have been complaining about a stench emanating from the mill and residents are planning to block the public road if the situation continues.Reports are that the mill, which carries the sign “Protein Recovery Inc.,” converts fish parts among other pieces of meat into poultry feed. It has been in operation for several years and changed ownership twice.
The mill was unveiled as a project under the John Fernandes Group of companies; however, checks have indicated that it is in the hands of new owners.
The mill was subsequently resold to another businessman who has been unreachable in recent days.
According to a resident in the area, she resides a few houses away from the plant and for years, she has been making complaints to the relevant authorities about the matter.
This publication made several attempts to reach the owner of the company who operates a related business in the Ruimveldt area, but to no avail.
Reports were made at several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).Consequently, EPA officials visited the community on July 13 and inspected the mill.
Sources at the EPA informed that officers inspected the processes utilised by the company as well as the noise levels which emanate from a generator which powers the mill. The mill is not connected to the national power grid.
A two-week grace period was then handed to the company to fix the situation based on the findings of the EPA officers.
“EPA come… they go and this smell remains,” the resident said. She said residents came out and some persons angrily questioned the officials on their slothfulness in remedying the situation.
She said residents have reached the stage where plans were being made to block the public road in order for their concerns to be addressed.
Persons in the area reported that the heavy-duty generator runs continuously for more than two days in some instances and the noise emanating from the factory makes residents very uncomfortable.
“But is the smell, imagine the smell and the noise together with thick black smoke,” she said.
According to another resident in the area, there are occasions when a pungent scent would emanate from the factory in the evenings. The scent is attributed to the trucks which ferry the fish parts to the mill.
Residents say once at the company’s compound, the workers would leave the discarded fish parts in the open at nights around 19:00 hrs and 20:00hrs or later at nights.
The men would pour water over the parts before they are converted via additional processes which involve cooking the spoilt material.
And the workers would place chlorine tablets into the fish tanks and cover the containers whenever the EPA is about to visit the company.
Reports are that the company’s owner recently visited the EPA and discussed the company’s operations with senior officials there. The company was reportedly given additional time to remedy the situation, much to the anger of residents.