A Maple Leaf Foods plant in Winnipeg could face penalties if it doesn’t cut down on oil and grease discharge.
The City of Winnipeg ordered the plant on Lagimodiere Boulevard to get into compliance with discharge limits under the sewer bylaw by April 19, but the company appealed.
Since the city detected oil and grease discharge in excess of the limits in 2014, the company has entered into two pollution prevention plans in an attempt to address the issue.
That plan ended last October, when the company told the city it had the issue under control, but follow-up testing by the city found discharge amounts exceeded the limits on four separate occasions between November and February.
In one instance, oil and grease levels were 1,050 milligrams per litre, more than 10 times the limit of 100 milligrams per litre.
“When you have an industry that produces high oil and grease, as it gets into the sewer system, it cools, it hardens, and it can cause all these blockages in the sewer system,” Renee Grosselle, the water and waste department’s manager of environmental standards, told the water and waste committee on Monday.
Joel Grant, Maple Leaf’s director of environmental affairs, told the committee the problem originated with a pre-treatment plant that handled discharge from both the Maple Leaf Food plant on Lagimodiere, and the neighbouring Rothsay rendering plant on Dawson Road North, which the company has since sold.
After the connection between the two plants was severed in 2019, the problem seemed to get better, Grant said. But after the company expanded a pre-cooked bacon process in 2022, discharge levels again exceeded city limits.
“We believed the culprit of the oil and grease issue was a particular process of washing the conveyer belt that carried the bacon through the cook line,” Grant told the committee.
“We took steps to alter this process while under the pollution prevention program.”
Maple Leaf asked the city to enter into a new pollution prevention plan, but Grosselle said the rules limit the number of times customers can come up with plans, and the company had exhausted its two chances.
Grant said he was under the impression city officials would notify the company if there were issues after the last plan ended in October, but Grosselle said it is the company’s responsibility to do its own due diligence.
The water and waste committee unanimously rejected Maple Leaf’s appeal.
“At the end of the day, hopefully, we think we can get this solved within three to six months … but I think you need to keep the pressure on, because this has been going on for over 10 years … this back and forth about coming into compliance,” committee chair Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said in an interview.
If Maple Leaf doesn’t bring its oil and grease discharge into compliance, it could face fines under the Municipal Bylaw Enforcement Act, or the city could take the company to court.