Environment Minister Charlene Johnson speaks to media Wednesday to address concerns about Viking Furs in Heart’s Delight-Islington. Johnson said that stopping composting of chicken offal on the farm, the worst of the smell affecting residents should be eliminated. —Photo by James McLeod/The Telegram

Environment Minister Charlene Johnson emerged Wednesday afternoon with a solution to awful smells coming from a mink farm in Heart's Delight-Islington.

It turns out the chicken offal that Viking Furs was composting for Country Ribbon was illegal. No permit was issued in the first place.

"We've ceased allowing Country Ribbon to bring in any of their waste for composting," Johnson said.

The mink farm has long been a source of complaints for nearby residents, who say it smells bad, but the complaints have been getting louder in the past week when the farm started taking chicken offal - some to feed the mink and some to compost.

Now, Johnson said, the compost heaps have been capped with about a foot of wood shavings, and since they'll no longer be turned, they shouldn't smell.

The farm will still take some material from Country Ribbon for mink feed, and the farm will be doing some active composting of mink carcasses and other waste.

But to address the complaints that have been coming in for a long time, the province said it's hiring a consultant to assess the situation and make recommendations for ways to further reduce the smell.

"Hopefully, that'll address the smell that was there prior to Country Ribbon," Johnson said.

"If it doesn't, in our permit we state clearly that if the odour and flies can't (be) controlled, we can require the company to enclose the site ... or we may look at other options, like moving the composting site."

jmcleod@thetelegram.com