Coffee roasting prompts concerns

Canadians who crave freshly brewed coffee may not appreciate the smell emitted by coffee roasting facilities.
Coffee roasting plants have generated odor complaints across North America, including Henrietta NY, a suburb of Rochester, where a Tim Hortons facility has operated since 2002.
The odor limit is a key point of debate as Tim Hortons prepares to open its $30 million coffee roasting facility in the Ancaster Business Park. Announced with much fanfare earlier this year, the facility is expected to create about 50 new jobs.
Fruition Manufacturing, a Tim Hortons subsidiary, is appealing the environment ministry’s certificate of approval conditions for air emissions.
The plant, slated to open by the end of this year, will have the capacity to roast 3,000 kilograms of green coffee beans per hour.
Tim Hortons spokesperson David Morelli has declined to comment on the pending appeal.
Environment ministry spokesperson Kate Jordan said the coffee roasting operation will emit nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and acrolein.
Emission limits are not specified in the Certificate of Approval, but the facility is designed to include three catalytic oxidizers with a natural gas fired stack, often referred to as “after burners.” The after burners work in conjunction with three cooling cyclones to reduce harmful emissions before they enter the atmosphere.
Ms. Jordan said emission limits are established at levels deemed acceptable to human heath.
Odor limits are a point of contention between the company and the ministry.
Ms. Jordan said odor complaints from coffee roasting operations are often subjective.
“It’s mainly from a loss of enjoyment of outside activities,” she said. “What bothers one person may not bother another.”
Fruition is appealing the requirement to calculate and gather odor data, as specified in the certificate of approval. The company has been instructed to record the 10-minute average odor concentrations in the surrounding area. In its appeal documents, Fruition argues the certificate of approval conditions “are onerous considering that the facility is located in an established industrial park and is using the latest technology to deal with stack emissions from coffee roasters.”
If the ministry still receives odor complaints, Ms. Jordan said the ministry can work with the company to improve odor abatement using scrubbers or filters.
Fruition is also appealing a condition to notify the environment ministry’s district manager within two days of an environmental complaint, arguing the requirement is unnecessary.
Fred Ross, a code enforcement officer in Henrietta, NY, said the town has received a few isolated complaints from residents about the coffee roasting plant located in an industrial district on Mushroom Boulevard.
“It’s a combination of both odor and a smoky, burnt coffee smell,” Mr. Ross said.
The town has not received any complaints in several months, Mr. Ross said.
“It’s just been one here and there,” he said.
Henrietta has not taken any enforcement action against the facility.
Other jurisdictions including Ventura County, California have issued orders against coffee roasting facilities. In 2007, a Ventura County court concluded odors emitted from a Stir Crazy Coffee facility created a public nuisance. The county air pollution control district ordered the company to cease roasting operations after complaints were lodged by the surrounding neighbourhood.
In Salt Spring, BC, residents including Merv Walde successfully fought to keep a coffee roasting facility out of their rural neighbourhood. Last summer, the Salt Spring Coffee Company applied to the Islands Trust for a zoning amendment to permit a 13,000 square-foot coffee roasting, packaging and distribution centre. The application was rejected amid opposition from residents.
Mr. Walde, who lives within 300 yards of the proposed site said he’s not opposed to coffee roasting facilities as long as they are contained within an industrial park setting. Mr. Walde toured other coffee roasting facilities on Salt Spring Island, as well as the mainland, and said the operations emit a distinctly foul smell.
“It’s a very unpleasant smell,” said Mr. Walde. “It’s not a nice, perked coffee smell.”