Blood flows from East Van poultry rendering plant

An East Side woman is concerned raw chicken blood, skin, feathers and bones from the Hallmark Poultry Processors rendering plant are being washed into the city’s storm water system.

Caroline Boback was walking north on Commercial Drive Friday afternoon near the large abattoir located between East Hastings and Pandora streets when she noticed a stream of pink water containing raw chicken bits, bones and feathers flowing down the alley that divides two of the buildings. Boback, a letter carrier with Canada Post, was concerned because the bloody water was flowing directly into a drain located at the end of the alley near the street, which she assumed belongs to the city’s storm water system.

"I thought, this doesn’t look right," Boback told the Courier Monday morning. "It looked to me like they were using our storm drain for that water. It’s not like it was in an enclosed space."

The drain is located at the west end of the alley between East Hastings and Franklin streets, which divides the large Hallmark rendering facility. On Monday morning there was no stream of water flowing from the plant down the alley, but feathers and small pieces of bone were still visible near the drain and in the snow piled on Commercial Drive.

Further up the alley, a steady flow of bloody water poured into what looked like specially designed drains located at the rear of one of the buildings. Live chickens in cages were stacked up metres away.

Boback had her camera with her last Friday. She told the Courier that when she began taking pictures of the water, a worker came out of the plant to speak to her. She added the man spoke little English, but he conveyed to her a pipe had broken inside the plant leading to the overflow. Boback had several other concerns regarding the bloody water, including the health of small children walking by and playing in the "puddles."

"I know there have been smell complaints at this plant before, but this was the first time I’d seen anything like this," said Boback.

Boback called the city Friday afternoon at about 5 p.m. and heard back from an employee in engineering first thing Monday morning who said her complaint was being investigated.

City of Vancouver media spokesperson Theresa Beers said the city is taking the situation very seriously and has attended the site several times since being notified of the spill.

"We are working with the company to determine exactly what happened and to ensure steps are taken to prevent it from happening again," said Beers. "We are also reviewing the situation for possible bylaw enforcement action."

Beers said the city has asked Hallmark to make onsite containment improvements as quickly as possible to ensure discharge doesn’t flow onto a city street or lane again. She added the city will visit Hallmark to ensure the improvements have been made.

The Courier left numerous messages at Hallmark for plant manager Duane Lefebvre over two days, but no one returned calls before the Courier’s press deadline.