BERLIN, Conn. — Residents in Berlin say they are impacted by noises and smells they believe are coming from Bright Feeds, a business on Fuller Way that specializes in helping companies dispose and recycle food waste into animal feed.
A spokesperson from the business emphasized that their process is designed and operated to ensure what comes into the plant and what comes out of the plant is safe for people and animals. They said the company carefully selects and manages its source materials to keep out hazardous or toxic contaminants.
Several Berlin residents and employees still have questions.
Shawn McLaughlin, a commercial truck manager at Tasca Ford dealership in Berlin, says the air has a rotten, bread type of smell to it.
“It's hard to explain. Some days it’s worse. Sometimes, it seems like they put something in it to cover it up, but you could smell it underneath it. And it’s what gets in your nose and stuff,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin says when he leaves the building, sometimes he forgets the odor is there, causing him to hold his breath.
He says when customers come to look at car options in the parking lot, they are thrown off by the smell.
“They end up not wanting to stay here very long,” McLaughlin said.
The smell is also nauseating for his co-workers.
“We had a couple of employees this morning when they got out of their car, it was pretty strong this morning. And they felt like vomiting before they even got into the building because of this smell,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin says this has been going on for more than a year and on top of smelling this strange odor, he’s also noticed soot covering their cars.
He believes it’s coming from the facility.
“They say that we’re not breathing stuff, but if you look at these cars and it hasn’t rained in weeks, you can see a dust type of haze on it. There’s something in the air,” McLaughlin said.
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He says the company had to power wash every vehicle they had twice.
“Which is over 300 of them. And one time they had to power wash our entire building,” McLaughlin said.
Homeowners like Ryan Malloy, who lives about a mile away from the building, hear a vibrating sound coming from it every day.
”You literally think you’re going mad. You think you’re losing your mind,” Malloy said.
The noise forces Malloy to sleep in a different bed in his home.
“I’m sleeping in a spare bedroom on this side of the house because it’s more insulated from Bright Feeds. If I sleep in the master bedroom, which is exposed to Bright Feeds, I get woken up time and time again. It’s kind of sad,” Malloy said.
He says his dog hates the sound and will not go outside because of it.
Malloy says he smells the horrible odor as well.
“Everybody has their own opinion of it. I consider it like a smothering garbage smell. To me it smells like old rotten food,” Malloy said.
He wants to know if what he is inhaling is safe.
“We just want the data, so we can be comfortable that we’re okay. That our health’s okay. That our kid’s health are okay, my family’s health, my dog’s health.” Malloy said.
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He says the smell is really pungent starting Sunday nights.
All of these issues led to Malloy starting a petition in February. The petition can be viewed here.
“Petitions now [signed by] over 700 people. We’ve had some town meetings on it. At the end of the day, we just want it fixed,” Malloy said.
He says most of the people who signed the petition agree with the company’s mission statement.
Bright Feeds pledges to help companies meet their sustainability goals and increase profit margins by turning their unwanted food into high-quality nutritious animal feed.
Malloy says they initially did not want Bright Feeds to shut down, but now they do since there hasn’t been any tangible solutions.
McLaughlin says they’ve voiced their complaints to the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.
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DEEP is investigating this situation, according to Malloy.
Bright Feeds sent FOX61 a statement:
“We appreciate the town hosting the public meeting last night and giving Bright Feeds the opportunity to address residents. It was important for us to hear again from the community and answer questions directly, and we remain 100% committed to continuing to work with the town and residents to fully address their concerns.
"Since we first received some complaints from people in town, we have made consistent and successful efforts to meet with residents one-on-one in the community. This includes establishing a hot line to field and respond to inquiries, installing a dampener on our stack to muffle any potential noise, and investing in the powerful Solterra Remedia odor control system. We continue to remain below the town ordinance on noise levels, and we have been successful at eliminating 80% of odors, according to system engineers from the manufacturer of the odor control system.
"As we mentioned last night, we have now taken it a step further and have placed the order for a state-of-the-art, custom-designed thermal oxidizer system, which is designed to eliminate odors by destroying 98% of all volatile organics present in exhaust flows.
"For a company of our size, this significant investment demonstrates how committed we are to fully addressing odor concerns. We are now working with the manufacturer on the design and engineering phase of the installation process. We are working as quickly as possible with the manufacturer to implement the solution, and we will share additional timing updates when they’re made available to us.”
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Cayla Cade is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at ccade@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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