Residents express frustration after years of noise from neighbouring recycling facility

A group of residents are speaking out and sharing frustrations after what they claim has been years of excessive noise from the facility in Perth East.

Article content

Residents Rachelle Czartorynskyj and Paul Cooper live just down the road from the site on Road 111 in Stratford. Not only is the noise from operations at the site causing ““earthquake-like shaking vibrations” and “metal crashing” in their home, they say, it also regularly happens outside of normal working hours, often starting before 7 am and lasting until 7 pm or later in the evening.

“It means we can’t plan anything in our homes,” said Cooper, describing the “crashing and thumping vibrations” from the facility as disruptive.

Often, he woke up early in the morning by the “smashing and crashing of metal falling into metal bins,” he added.

A 52-second audio clip provided by Czartorynskyj, recorded on June 18 of this year at 7:26 pm, provides a small sample of what residents experience. Sounds of metal and at least one vehicle can be heard throughout the clip.

Article content

According to a timeline provided by Czartorynskyj, local residents brought their concerns to the Perth East bylaw officer in December 2020. The bylaw officer then forwarded their concerns to the Ministry of Environment. In March 2021, Czartorynskyj contacted the ministry herself, beginning what was essentially a back-and-forth exchange until July of that year when they were then told to take their concerns back to the township.

While residents expected there would be some noise from the site, and would even be OK with it during normal business hours, Cooper noted there were no noise concerns when the site’s previous company, Perth Auto Dismantling, operated there. Cooper said neighbours would like Benmet to operate during more normal business hours, such as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday. Cooper, however, said residents were told by the ministry that Benmet is allowed to operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Cooper said residents had some correspondence with Benmet via email, and the company did conduct a sound test done June 2021. Cooper, though, shared two five-second clips from his home’s security camera that showed video of the test, which was completed at a time when there was no noise coming from the recycling facility. In one of the clips, a man can be heard saying to the other, “it’s pretty quiet.”

“It wasn’t even noisy. It was such a biased test they had. They knew the test was happening, and they controlled it. They had total control of the noise level. So to me, it was a totally bogus sound test they did,” Cooper said.

Article content

Benmet officials did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Cooper and Czartorynskyj have now gathered signatures on an online petition from 50 nearby residents seeking a change to Perth East’s noise bylaw. Cooper made a presentation during the township’s recent council meeting, where they found at least one sympathetic ear in South Easthope Coun. Andrew MacAlpine. The councillor said he had previously been in one of the neighbouring homes and was unable to carry on a conversation due to the excessive noise.

At that meeting, however, Cooper was informed by staff that industrial noise is regulated by the province and does not fall under the township’s noise bylaw. The bylaw also does not address the business hours that Cooper says the township should be able to regulate, even if they can’t directly regulate the noise. Cooper argued this would not set a bad precedent for the municipality since “only two or three businesses” in Perth County would be impacted.

Article content

“With 50 signatures from residents around this whole area, I think that should have some weight. . . . I think they should be able to come up with (a way to regulate the hours),” he said.

At the meeting, council voted to direct staff to send a letter requesting that Benment “operate with respect of their neighbours.” Councillors also directed staff to work with Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae to find a solution and then prepare a follow-up report.

While the noise has improved in the few days since the council meeting, Cooper is unsure whether that trend will continue.

“I don’t know if all the stuff we’ve been doing has anything to do with it or not,” he said.

Article content