FORTVILLE — A company that makes swimming pools says it’s working to prevent an odor created during its manufacturing process from spreading into nearby neighborhoods.
Residents who live near Thursday Pools, LLC are reporting being overwhelmed by a plastic-like smell, even blaming it for headaches and nausea. An official with the business maintains its emissions are not dangerous, but acknowledges they produce a noticeable scent.
The plant has equipment designed to keep the odor from drifting far outside its walls. Recent building expansions, however, have caused it to outgrow the device’s capabilities. Additional parts are due to arrive over the next couple months that the company says will make the apparatus effective again.
Thursday Pools makes one-piece in-ground pools at 840 Commerce Parkway in Fortville. Its process involves spraying gel coat, fiberglass and a polyester resin onto molds that shape the pools, said Bill Khamis, co-owner and chief financial officer of the company.
Khamis said the polyester resin and gel coat produce an odor and that the resin in particular has a low threshold for humans to detect.
“Humans will smell it at a very low level,” he said.
The polyester resin the company uses is the same kind that’s found in many everyday items, Khamis continued, including Styrofoam cups and plates.
As the resin dries during the pool-making process, part of it evaporates and emits volatile organic compounds, requiring the business to have a permit showing compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Khamis said following environmental regulations is a rigorous process that the company takes seriously. It involves regular and surprise audits from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management along with submitting reports and emissions calculations to the state.
“When we say you have to report, it’s not one letter at the end of the year, calling them on the phone saying, ‘Yeah, we did good,'” Khamis said.
Materials employees work with also spur certain Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements, he continued, like wearing respirators while applying gel coat.
A plastic-like smell was noticeable throughout Alix Collins’ neighborhood near Thursday Pools at midday Monday, April 26. Collins said said she notices the odor at least three times a week and that it’s usually far stronger in the early mornings.
“It kind of makes you sick to your stomach,” she said. “Sometimes you got to shut your windows because it’s so strong.”
Jarred Duebel, who also lives near the business with his wife and their young son, shared a similar experience at a Fortville Town Council meeting last month. He said he first started noticing a strong smell of plastic about a year ago and that it’s grown worse ever since.
“I’m not here to disrupt small business by any means, but it’s become a major concern,” Duebel said.
At first, a couple weeks may have gone by without him noticing anything, he said. Now, it could return several days in a row. Like Collins, he too mostly notices it in the mornings.
“It’s gotten to the point, and I’m not trying to seem dramatic by any means, to where it’s nauseating, where we have headaches,” Duebel said.
The odor can be so strong that he notices it in his living room, he continued, adding he and his wife have considered moving.
Thursday Pools’ air permit is currently up for renewal. Barry Sneed, public information officer for IDEM, told the Daily Reporter in an email that the proposed permit’s Environmental Protection Agency review is set to conclude on May 5.
“Provided that EPA has no comments, the permit would then be issued within a few days,” Sneed said. “If EPA has comments, we’ll address those prior to issuance.”
The public comment period for the permit drew feedback from three Fortville residents expressing concerns about the odor, including reports of headaches and fears of harm to health.
While the company is not required to, Thursday Pools finished installing a device called a thermal oxidizer about a year ago, Khamis said. The piece of equipment draws in air from the plant and burns natural gas to heat it to a high temperature, eliminating the captured odor and volatile organic compounds.
“It was on and off because they’re very finicky,” Khamis said. “But they do work. Now, the only thing is we’ve grown, and so it’s not handling our whole capacity. But we have more coming.”
Thursday Pools has added onto its plant in recent years and is currently undergoing another expansion.
Khamis said the company has bought additional parts for its thermal oxidizer that are expected to start arriving in the next seven to eight weeks.
“Once that’s in, you’re not smelling anything,” he said.
The company is also developing a robot for applying pools’ gel coat, which Khamis said will be much more controlled than a human operator, resulting in less emissions. Thursday Pools received a $25,000 grant to assist with the project from IDEM.
The business boasts an ISO 14001 certification as well, an international standard for environmental management systems that includes reducing environmental footprints and creating safe work environments for employees.
IDEM accepted the company into its Environmental Stewardship Program in 2018.
In response to the comments from residents in Thursday Pools’ proposed permit, IDEM said it does not have the authority to consider odors when issuing air permits and doesn’t have the authority to regulate odors. That matter falls under the authority of local governments, the department continued.
Fortville officials and Khamis discussed the odor at a town council meeting earlier this month and the company’s plans to address it. Robert Holland, a council member, expressed faith in the business’ ability to find a solution.
“I know that you are very aware of it,” Holland told Khamis. “I also know from my time sitting up here that you guys have done easily more than the minimum than you’ve needed to.”
Khamis encouraged residents to contact him with any concerns at 317-408-2668 or [email protected].
