Awaba odours

We are aware of community complaints about odours alleged to be from the Remondis Australia Pty Ltd (Remondis) Organics Resource Recovery Facility at Awaba in Lake Macquarie.

The community has been experiencing ongoing odours around the Awaba area and we appreciate that odours can be unpleasant and can impact quality of life.

The EPA is investigating each report of odour received from the community and is taking action to require Remondis to improve odour management at its Awaba facility. Our officers are conducting in-person odour surveys at locations around the facility to determine intensity, persistence and potential aggravating factors of the odour.

Visit the Remondis’ Awaba page to find more information on their facility.

Regulatory update

We are committed to reducing odour impacts on the community as a priority and have undertaken a range of actions including:

  • Varying Remondis’ Environment Protection Licence 20949 for the facility to include several Pollution Reduction Programs that formalise upgrade works aimed at addressing odour emissions in a timely manner.
  • Investigating odour reports made by the community to identify potential trends, patterns and weather conditions associated with the odour reports. This helps us to undertake targeted surveys and/or inspections during conditions when odours are more likely to occur.
  • Undertaking odour surveys and inspections pre-emptively and in response to community reports to identify the source of odours and assess compliance with licence conditions.

Where necessary we will take regulatory action including issuing Penalty Notices, Prevention Notices, Warning Letters, Official Cautions and Pollution Reduction Programs for non-compliance with licence conditions. Our regulatory decision making is undertaken in line with the EPA’s Regulatory Policy.

Reporting odours

If you are experiencing odours and believe they are originating from Remondis’ Organics Resource Recovery Facility in Awaba we encourage you to report this directly to Remondis so that they can investigate potential causes of odour at the time you may experience them.

To contact Remondis vist the Remondis’ Awaba page. 

To report environmental concerns or complaints you can also contact the EPA’s 24-hour Environment Line on 131 555 or email info@epa.nsw.gov.au. Information about persistent odour can also be recorded using the fact sheet and odour log sheet, which can then be emailed to us.