An animal crematorium located at Gants Plaza, Strand has been given the “green light” to commence operations.
The go-ahead was granted by the City of Cape Town, which extended Flaura Pets’ atmospheric emission licence for another year.
This after the owner of the animal crematorium decided to stop operating its incinerator in April after the business failed to meet the prescribed emission limits set by the City (“Pet-crematorium pollution rankles,” DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette, 6 September).
The halt in operations followed several complaints to council, which led to an independent stack-emissions monitoring specialist investigating the matter and compiling a report.
On enquiry, the City’s Air Quality Management Unit confirmed it received the independent report on 26 July, confirming the facility had failed to meet the prescribed emission limits for Listed Activity 8, Sub-Category 8.2 Crematoria and Veterinary Waste Incineration (only Veterinary Waste incineration in this instance).
Several business owners stated when Flaura Pets was operational before the shutdown smoke billowing from the facility’s chimney caused their employees to suffer burning eyes. They also said the smoke blew into some adjacent businesses. But Neil Ferguson, director of Flaura Pets, refuted the claims, reiterating he had made the “responsible decision” to stop using the incinerator back in April.
The City explained when a decision is made to grant an application for an Atmospheric Emission Licence (AEL), the facility is first issued with a Provisional AEL (PAEL), valid for a year from the date of commissioning. In this period the facility must fully commission the listed activity and demonstrate full compliance with the PAEL. Where the facility cannot achieve full compliance the Air Quality Act enables them to apply for a renewal of the PAEL, which can be renewed only once. If compliance is still not achieved the facility would be compelled to close its doors.
The City of Cape Town confirmed that Flaura Pets’ licence was approved and will be valid until 16 November 2024.
“If the facility can demonstrate for six consecutive months that they can comply with the licence conditions they are entitled to a ‘final” Atmospheric Emission Licence, which will be valid for a period of five years,” it stated.
It said Flaura Pets had to provide the authorities with a plan to improve and abate emissions in order to receive their licence. “The facility appointed an independent expert to effect design changes to the cremators and made recommendations for further improvements. These changes were put into effect, and the licence was amended to limit the weight of carcasses that can be cremated at any one time.”
Some business owners complained to DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette about issues regarding smoke coming from Flaura Pets chimney (after they received their licence). According to these business owners, who preferred to remain anonymous, the smoke disrupted them and their businesses. Ferguson said he had not received any complaints about this. “We have not had a single smoke incident. We keep track of every smoke incident. We have passed our air emissions and have a licence to operate.”
