Manitoba composter in spat with province over smelly site

The Manitoba government is in a stinky licensing dispute with a commercial compost company that is facing a stop-work order even though the two continue to do business together.

Samborski Environmental Ltd. has until Monday to remove all of its composting materials from its site on McGillivray Boulevard, just southwest of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald.

• Manitoba composter given until Dec. 1 to clean up its act

Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh has issued an environmental protection order that orders the company to cease accepting new loads, as well as remove the offending piles.

"Unfortunately now, time is up. Enough is enough," Mackintosh told CBC News on Thursday.

The company has been in a decades-long dispute about the site: it claims the property is zoned to allow for composting, while the RM says it is not.

The provincial government says regardless of how the property is zoned, it won't grant Samborski an environmental licence because of concerns that the composting facility stinks.

But Paul Samborski, the company's general manager, maintains that the operation is properly managed.

"It's only offensive when piles are being turned. We only turn piles when there's a north wind," he said.

"We try to work with the community. If there is problems with a pile, we address it."

Samborski Environmental has been in the landscaping and gardening business for more than 90 years. Its organic waste collection and composting division is relatively new.

Received more than 500 complaints

Manitoba Conservation says since 2009, it has received more than 500 complaints about foul smells coming from thecompost site.It accuses the company of not monitoring or controlling the source of the odours.

"It's just nasty; there's no way to describe it," said Ken Maes, who has lived in the area for 51 years.

The province says if Samborski does not comply with the stop-work order, it will take over the cleanup at the company's expense.

But Samborski said it does not make sense for the province not to license his company while using its services at the same time.

He noted that the province gave Samborski Environmental a $33,000 grant to grow in 2008, and during the licensing spat, leaves from the legislative grounds in Winnipeg have ended up at the Samborski composting site.

"I think that's very ironic," Samborski said.

"I think the fact that they want to continue to use our service but are regulating the left hand isn't communicating with the right hand, and we do find that very ironic."

Sent $94.5M bill to government

For the three timesthe company picked up leaves from the legislature, it'scharging the government $94.5 million just a little morethanthe $450 the pickupswouldactually cost.

• ON MOBILE? ReadSamborski's invoice to the province here.

When asked if the bill is some kind of stunt, Samborski replied, "When we sent this invoice, we wanted to do it to speak to Gord Mackintosh."

The minister said the province is listening, but Mackintosh argued that the company has broken agreements three times.

"Our efforts are not to shut a company down, it's to shut the smell down," he said.

Samborski Environmental wants to move and expand its facility farther south, closer to the Brady landfill, but it has concerns about whether it can survive.