KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Concerns over odors from a packaging plant in Kalamazoo continue, with the company reportedly dismissing the findings from an engineering firm hired to help with problem.
A June 2020 engineering report on industrial odor near the Graphic Packaging International factory in the city’s Northside neighborhood recommended placing a cap on the clarifier that processes wastewater coming from the plant, but the company says the clarifier was never capped.
Company officials told MLive they chose not to cap the clarifier because they did not agree with the Jones and Henry Engineers report prepared for the City of Kalamazoo.
According to the company, a consultant hired by Graphic Packaging concluded that the most effective way to mitigate hydrogen sulfide is to treat the wastewater with chemical additives to reduce the creation of the gas, not cap the clarifier, which they say would just trap the hydrogen sulfide without dealing with the core issue.
Instead of capping the clarifier, the company made a process change, adding oxygen and peroxide to the wastewater for more than a year, and plans to continue the treatment process.
A report from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that examines asthma prevalence and looks at chemicals and possible effects on health in the area of the factory and the city’s wastewater plant is expected to be released later this year.
MLive says the City of Kalamazoo plans to spend about $4 million to vacuum the smelly gas from the city sewer network through its biofilter project. The Jones and Henry Engineers study also identified something like the biofilter as a potential method to reduce foul odors from the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
