Thomas Foods International Tamworth requests waste fee reduction from Tamworth Regional Council after non-compliance

Thomas Foods International (TFI) has written to Tamworth Regional Council requesting a reduction after it was charged almost $150,000 in trade waste non-compliance fees during August, 2022.

A series of "equipment failures" caused wastewater treatment issues at the lamb abattoir in Westdale, according to a report to council by water and environmental operations manager, Daniel Coe.

"The wastewater quality discharged to council's sewerage system was not treated to the required standards, as specified by the site's Trade Waste Agreement," he said.

"It should be noted, that in TFI's correspondence, reference is made to the timeframe in which council laboratory results were received and this contributed to TFI not being aware of the treatment issues."

Mr Coe recommended council refuse the request because "not performing to required standards should not be reliant on receipt of council-performed wastewater sampling and testing".

"It is recommended that the charges be applied as per council's Liquid Trade Waste Policy and that no relief be provided," he said.

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"The charges levied for non-compliance are high to provide a financial incentive to dischargers to provide the necessary expertise and resources to on-site treatment facilities to ensure they operate to a high standard and produce wastewater which meets the requirements of the trade waste agreement signed between the discharger and council.

"Should council choose to reduce or vary the charges levied then council may be considered to be sending a message to dischargers that compliance with the trade waste agreement is not expected at all times."

In 2016, the abattoir was given the green light to significantly expand its West Tamworth lamb abattoir processing capacity to 11,000 head per day, seven days-a-week.

As part of the development approval, construction of a new wastewater treatment facility was completed in 2017.

The facility had run without a hitch until the issues arose in August, according to the report.

Councillors will vote on the recommendation at Tuesday night's meeting.

Thomas Foods was contacted for comment.

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