A sustainable waste management company is working to improve the smell its facility in Grafton, Massachusetts, gives off after complaints from neighbors.
A sustainable waste management company that's been the subject of months of complaints about an awful smell from neighbors in Grafton, Massachusetts, is accepting one final shipment of lobster shells Thursday, according to a legal filing.
After that, Feedback Earth has agreed to stop bringing lobster shells and other solid waste or unauthorized materials for recycling or conversion, according to an order submitted in Suffolk Superior Court Wednesday. And if the state notices any foul smells coming from the facility, it's agreed to stop processing them.
Residents have likened the odor to rotten seafood and decaying bodies.
The order comes amid the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office's lawsuit against Feedback Earth, which alleges that the smell is a side effect of a "pattern of environmental permit violations and unsanitary conditions" at the facility, where food waste is turned into animal feed.
Feedback Earth's CEO and owner, Alison Greenlee, has previously told NBC10 Boston after being asked about the lawsuit, which she couldn't comment on, that the company hoped to find a solution for the community.
"We are proud of our ability to divert food waste from landfill and unlock critical resources for local businesses. There is no higher priority at FeedBack than to eliminate all perceived community disturbances," she wrote.
In Wednesday's order on ceasing the importation of solid waste to Feedback Earth, it notes that the company may still argue it has the right to process lobster shells. But it also agreed to clean up and dispose of everything at the facility that isn't fresh unwanted food, and find a composting facility to send any remaining lobster shells within a week.
The agreement also says that Feedback Earth will immediately stop creating a public nuisance, and that if prosecutors find they still are, they can write to the company and have it stop operations that cause the smell.
Read the document here:
