A “foul” stench that plagued Mount Maunganui neighbours for days has led to two Bay of Plenty companies being fined for discharging “offensive” odours.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has issued freight company RMD Transport Ltd and stockfeed company Bunge New Zealand Ltd $8000 each in fines.

RMD Transport operates a bulk storage facility on Aerodrome Rd in Mount Maunganui for products including grains, fertilisers and stockfeed.

The company transports the products throughout New Zealand.

Bunge New Zealand imports, stores and distributes animal feed across New Zealand.

It stores some of its products in one of RMD’s sheds.

Council compliance manager Stephen Mellor said the council’s pollution hotline and Report It platform received 25 complaints from June 4 to July 2 about offensive odours.

These included complaints of “toxic dust” coming from Aerodrome Rd and that it was “very difficult” to breathe.

One complaint said that for two to three weeks, an odour “strong enough to cause nausea” was present in the Hewletts Rd, MacDonald St and Aviation Ave area.

Another complainant stated the “toxic odour” had made some of their staff “feel sick”.

“Very salty, rotten, sickly. Almost like rotten vinegar … Gets to the point of gagging,” another complained.

Mellor said the council traced the smell to an RMD shed.

“Around 800 tonnes of the product were removed from within the large pile as it got heated to around 65C and it was emanating a very strong acrid and foul odour.”

The product, a large volume of Bunge’s Distiller’s Dried Grains with Soluble, had begun heating and fermenting while in storage.

RMD Transport Ltd's bulk storage facility on Aerodrome Rd in Mount Maunganui. Photo / Bay of Plenty Regional Council

He said this was “most likely” because of moisture contamination during transport or storage.

Mellor said the offensive odours affected nearby properties for several days. The material was isolated, cooled and removed from the site.

Mellor said the discharge breached the Resource Management Act and the regional plan. The latter stated a discharge to air must not “cause any offensive or objectionable effect beyond the boundary of the subject site”.

Mellor said the unauthorised discharges confirmed on June 30 breached abatement notices previously issued to both companies.

The companies were each issued two $4000 fines for the offensive odour and abatement notice breach.

Mellor said most businesses across Mount Maunganui’s industrial area were “making a genuine effort” to meet their obligations and reduce dust and odour.

“Monitoring shows that effort is paying off,” he said.

“While this discharge was an isolated incident, the rules designed to reduce odour are clear.

“It’s important for organisations that fail to meet their obligations to be held to account.”

RMD Transport and Bunge New Zealand were approached for comment.

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Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post and has been a journalist for more than 26 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.