WINNIPEG — Manitoba Conservation took drastic action Tuesday removing smelly compost from Samborski Environmental, after the province says multiple orders to remove the compost were ignored.
READ MORE: Manitoba orders compost business to remove material after 400 complaints
“This is theft, they’re taking our material, it’s our material,” said Paul Samborski, reacting to excavators removing composting piles.
The odor was overwhelming and at times nauseating, not normal says Don Labossiere with Manitoba Conservation.
“Compost shouldn’t smell like what you’re smelling here.”
It’s a smell residents and businesses in Whyte Ridge, in the southwest corner of the city, have dealt with for five years.
“We’re glad,” said Gloria Klotz, who’s lived near Samborski’s for 14 years, “When you see the kids walking home from school covering their mouths, you can’t even describe the smell it’s just awful.”
After more than 500 complaints since 2009, Manitoba Conservation ordered Samborski’s to move its composting site further away from the city. But the company couldn’t get the proper permits to operate on another site. Samborski had until early December to remove all the compost, but the province says that wasn’t done.
“We have given Samborski time to remove material here, they have removed a small amount but not everything,” said Labossiere.
For the next three weeks, residents will smell a strong odour in the air as crews work to haul away the compost, at a cost to Samborski’s of about $500,000.
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“They’re essentially trying to shut us down,” said Samborski.
The family run business has been around for 90 years and on this site for 26 years. Samborski says they were here first, “When we moved onto this property in 1989 there was not a house in sight.”
But the province says they have to adjust to their surroundings and they haven’t. Residents, many in eyesight of the plant, are looking forward to the smells of summer.
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“It’ll smell like it’s supposed to,” said Klotz, “we can smell our flowers, we won’t smell Samborski.”
The material is being shipped to another composting company outside the city. Samborski says they’ll seek legal advice on how to get their compost back.
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