Talloman Waste Water Upgrades

Talloman is our Rendering Division that produces high-quality feed ingredients from animal by-products

Tuesday November 28, 2023

Being a good neighbour in our local community is just as important to Talloman as the critical recycling service we provide to Western Australia’s meat processing and livestock industries. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened recently, with an unpleasant odour being emitted from our site which has been far in excess of what is acceptable.

As is often the case, many factors contributed to the increased odour levels. The primary cause was increased nutrient loads on our ponds which unfortunately occurred during an upgrade to our wastewater treatment plant. This planned upgrade will have mid to long-term benefits but has created a short-term odour impact. And all this happened during seven days of unrelenting easterly winds and >35 degree heat.

We have tried a number of fixes, some worked to an extent, others such as attempting to divert product to landfill, didn’t.

Activities we are currently implementing to resolve the issue include:

The plant operated at significantly reduced capacity on Friday and Saturday (November 24 & 25) to reduce the load on the wastewater system and provide additional available hours for maintenance works over the weekend. To achieve this, product was diverted to either an alternative renderer or to landfill/compost sites (where there is available capacity)
The feed from the covered lagoons to the wastewater plant was switched off to allow for recovery of the system;
Clarifier tanks have been emptied and cleaned out, with contents disposed of off-site;
While the plant is ‘turned down’, extraction fans and biofilter operation will be reviewed to ensure they are operating at maximum efficiency to prevent emissions from the rendering process;
Chemical treatment of evaporation ponds to improve the rate of recovery and reduce odour from condenser sprays;
Increase extraction from the DAF shed to reduce potential odour source;List Item
Wastewater reactor tanks have been further sealed to prevent emissions from under the covers and allow for improved extraction to biofilters;
Biofilters are currently being ‘topped up’ to provide increased residence time and improve odour destruction;List Item
Covered lagoons will be regularly sampled so that the cleaner water will be diverted to the uncovered water treatment system while water with higher nutrient load remains in the covered lagoons for further anaerobic treatment;
Modifications of extraction ducts to allow for improved extraction from raw material receival areas;
Contractors will be engaged to measure airflow from extraction points and improve balance of extraction system; and
We will further reduce operational load by diverting material away from site until odours improve

These activities either occurred over the weekend or will be implemented early this week as we strive to reduce our impact on our neighbours.

Talloman hope this provides some indication of the seriousness with which we view this issue and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience it has caused.