Thomas Foods International

Prior to the 2018 fire, operations at TFI’s Northern Heights facility included slaughtering, product packaging and storage, rendering of by-products, skin-salting, and the reuse of wastewater for irrigation. Currently only the rendering plant, skin sheds and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) are operational, with the rendering and blood cooking facility processing by-products from TFI’s Pallamana and Lobethal abattoirs.

The facility operates close to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. These hours have increased since the 2018 fire but remain within the permitted hours of operation.

Environmental Management

Environmental risks from the Murray Bridge facility include nuisance odour from rendering operations and the management of wastewater generated by the site. The site borders the Northern Heights community and is close to the more densely populated township of Murray Bridge, which increases the risk of widespread nuisance and community concern relating to wastewater management at the facility.

Odour

The EPA is aware of issues to do with odour generated by the plant affecting the local community. The EPA’s response includes regular meetings with TFI, extensive monitoring campaigns in the community and increased site inspection activity. Their EPA Licence requires actions to minimise odour emissions from the site, including the management and maintenance of a biofilter and a wet scrubber to treat the key odour sources and to implement an Environmental Management Plan for wastewater management.

A 2023 assessment of TFI’s odour control equipment demonstrated that the equipment was functioning to the required specifications. TFI then engaged an odour specialist to complete a review of all potential odour sources on the site to try to identify any specific section(s) of the facility contributing to odour emissions. While this review identified several measures that could improve odour from the facility, no finding was made about the specific cause of odours being observed off-site.

Since the odour assessment was completed in 2023, TFI has undertaken a range of incremental maintenance and improvement activities at the facility to lessen the impact of odour emissions. The EPA is aware that, despite these efforts, odour issues continue to be a concern for the surrounding community.

Construction of a new rendering facility at TFI’s Pallamana site is unlikely to commence for several years. Therefore, in July 2024, the EPA proposed updated conditions to TFI’s Northern Heights licence (EPA Licence #11649) and TFI consented to these conditions being added to the licence using section 45(3)(b)(i) of the Environment Protection Act 1993. The updated conditions require:

• Further comprehensive whole of site assessment work, to be completed by an appropriately qualified air quality professional. This work must consider the impacts of the plant’s operations and will propose options for reducing odour impacts, with an Odour Assessment Report to be submitted to the EPA.
• Development and implementation of an Environment Improvement Program to implement the preferred odour mitigation options.
  
  

Community Odour Monitoring Activities

Community feedback about odour impacts is valued by the EPA and assists with understanding the impact at different times, under various conditions, and in different geographical areas. If you are experiencing significant impacts, please visit our odour management page for more information about the EPA’s regulation of odour. Residents can lodge odour reports through the EPA’s online reporting portal or by completing a hard copy odour diary.

Given the complexity of odour present in the surrounding area, community reports assist with identifying patterns, specific sources and improving the quality of information available to the EPA. Information such as the odour tones and intensity, time of day, duration of the odour, impacts to amenity, and on-ground weather conditions are of particular interest to the EPA.

In June 2020, TFI received development approval to build a stock production and meat processing facility at 191 Temora Way, Pallamana, about 10 km north of Murray Bridge. This facility is intended to replace the operations lost in the 2018 fire at TFI’s Northern Heights facility. TFI was granted authorisation (EPA Licence #51656) to conduct meat processing and fuel burning at the new processing facility in November 2022, and meat processing operations commenced in May 2023.

As part of assessing the licence application, the EPA considered which controls were required to manage the potential off-site impacts of the new facility. The EPA has included licence conditions to ensure adequate management of odour, wastewater (including irrigation) and noise to minimise the risk of impact to the environment and local community.

Pallamana Stage 1 and Licence

TFI’s Pallamana facility will be built in a staged approach, based on capacity and demand. All stages of the development must be completed within 10 years of development approval (June 2030).

Stage 1 construction was completed in May 2023 and has now been successfully commissioned.

The following activities are licensed by the EPA:

• meat processing facilities (with an initial capacity of up to 600 head per day)
• fuel burning (for the boiler systems).
  
  

Subsequent stages of the development will include expansion of the beef facilities and additional small stock processing capacity for sheep and lambs. A new rendering plant and composting facility will be constructed in a future stage of development, however the exact timeframe for this is still to be determined.

The EPA will notify the community of subsequent development stages through TFI’s application to include additional activities on the licence and will provide an opportunity to give feedback when this application is received.

Once complete, the Pallamana facility is expected to have a total processing capacity of 1,200 head of beef and 15,000 head of small stock per day.

Environmental Management

The evaluation distances for effective air quality and noise management guideline indicates that the facility should be located at least 1 km away from dwellings. The TFI facility (excluding existing lagoons) is approximately 1.5 km from the nearest non-TFI dwelling. As part of the development application, odour modelling was commissioned and reviewed in accordance with the EPA’s ‘Ambient Air Quality Assessment’ and the Environment Protection (Air Quality) Policy 2016.

TFI has an EPA-approved commissioning plan for the wastewater treatment system. This will ensure that wastewater processes are managed appropriately and in accordance with the design of the facility as new parts of the system are built and commissioned.

The site is regulated by the EPA to ensure compliance with strict protocols related to odour, wastewater management and noise, and the EPA conducts regular compliance inspections and boundary assessments of the facility.

TFI also operates a small stock abattoir in Lobethal. In October 2023, Lobethal increased its production from 22,500 head of small stock per week (lamb, mutton, and goat) to 61,000 head per week and increased from one shift per day to two.

Environmental Management

The site is regulated by the EPA for compliance with strict protocols related to odour, wastewater management and noise, and the EPA conducts regular compliance inspections and boundary assessments of the facility as part of its ongoing regulation of the site.

The EPA regulates the licenced activities which occur onsite and the EPA licenced waste transporters who carry some materials entering/exiting the facility.

Some of the questions we are frequently asked include:

• When will the rendering operations be moved from Northern Heights to TFI’s new Pallamana facility?
• What is the best way to lodge an environmental report about a TFI facility?
• How can I report odour impacts to the EPA?
• What is the EPA doing to manage odour impacts from TFI’s facilities?
• Where can I find out more about TFI’s licence conditions?

Answers to these questions are available on our Frequently Asked Questions page.