Aurora’s Air Quality Improves, But Residents Living Near The HelloFresh Factory Continue To Suffer.
Since production began in 2021, neighbors have reported consistent problems with light, noise, and air pollution. Now, the Illinois EPA is taking a closer look at HelloFresh’s operations in Aurora.
Headaches, throat irritation, chest pain, and nausea are some of the many symptoms Illinois residents experienced last week as smoke from Canadian wildfires rained down across the state. According to the National Weather Service, the Chicagoland area ranked as the worst location for air quality out of 95 major cities around the globe on Tuesday and Wednesday as the smoke lingered as a visible haze, and the smell of smoke wafted through the air.
According to Zac Adelman, executive director of the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium, who spoke to the Chicago Tribune, the main driver behind the poor air quality was elevated levels of particulate matter in the air.
Particulate matter, also referred to as PM2.5, contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small that they can be inhaled into the deepest parts of your lungs, enter your bloodstream, and cause serious health problems, including heart attacks and strokes.
As of 7 a.m. Tuesday June 27, particulate matter levels were “three, four, times higher than we typically observe here,” Adelman told the paper.
Thankfully, by Thursday evening, the toxic particulates began to dissipate and the air quality in Chicagoland has since restored to normal levels. While the worst is now over, Aurora residents living near the HelloFresh factory are likely not sharing in the same sense of relief as the rest of the community.
Hello Fresh
HelloFresh, who continues to operate under the Factor 75 name locally after buying out the competitor, expanded to Aurora at the end of 2020. The company requested the City of Aurora change the zoning at the property on the corner of Indian Trl and Orchard Rd to allow the company to operate a meal distribution facility there. This change in zoning was approved despite the facility's close proximity to multiple residential neighborhoods, even sharing a property line, separated by small neighborhood fences, with several homes in the Greenfield subdivision located directly behind the building.
Since production began at the facility in early 2021, neighbors have reported consistent problems with light, noise, and air pollution. One of the most serious concerns from neighbors comes from the air pollution, where the near constant presence of diesel trucks and reefer units at the facility has resulted in increased PM2.5, or particulate matter, in the neighborhoods. This increase in particulate matter, along with other documented pollutants, has caused chronic health issues for many residents, and may have led to the premature death of one neighbor’s foster dog last year.
Multiple residents contacted their 5th ward Alderman, Carl Franco, then Alderman at Large Sherman Jenkins, and the Mayor’s office to report the pollution concerns throughout 2021 and 2022, but reportedly received little to no support from the city officials, or Hello Fresh representatives, to address the issues.
Neighbors join together
In August 2022, Greenfield neighbors created the Facebook group, Advocates for Greenfield Community, as a forum to talk about concerns around HelloFresh. They use the group to discuss ongoing symptoms, share videos of seemingly visible pollution coming from the facility, document data from air quality monitors some residents have purchased to monitor their exposure to PM2.5’s and other pollutants, and ways they are trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to combat the effects of the facility’s operations.
The Aurora Grassroots Alliance, which consists of various community members who work to advocate for and support residents who are being harmed or marginalized by city policy, has worked in conjunction with Greenfield residents to host neighborhood meetings and speak at city council in regards to the ongoing concerns.
After the group joined several Greenfield residents at city council earlier this year and demanded action from city officials, noting that their previous attempts to address the issues had been largely ignored, the city gave HelloFresh 45 days to review and formally respond to the neighbors complaints.
Public Comment : City of Aurora Council Meeting January 24, 2023.
Full video available here
When HelloFresh reported back to the city in April, they detailed some mitigation efforts the company was taking to address complaints around the noise and light pollution and the, at times, overwhelming aromas that emit from the factory. However, despite the roughly million dollars the company projects they will spend for mitigation efforts, HelloFresh ultimately denied that their operations have any impact on the air quality in the area, and provided no real plan to address the concern.
If HelloFresh were to admit that they are causing the harmful levels of air pollutants in the neighborhood, or even contributing to it at all, there may not be enough mitigation measures the company could reasonably take to restore the air quality for their neighbors. So to admit that the company plays a role in the pollution may be to admit that they cannot continue their operations at this facility.
Their other option, as some have suggested, is to buy up the properties in the surrounding neighborhoods and allow residents who want to move away from the facility the freedom to escape.
Both of these are conclusions that HelloFresh will fight tooth and nail in order to keep business, and profits, flowing.
A Failure of Leadership From Local Officials
Pollution is just a reality of distribution operations like HelloFresh, especially given the amount of diesel trucks that are required to travel in and out of the facility to support operations and the need for diesel reefers to keep the meals produced cold during storage and travel. That reality is the whole basis for having manufacturing districts, and local zoning rules that keep these types of operations at a safe distance from the community.
The City of Aurora, along with the aldermen who approved it, made a huge mistake in permitting the zoning change that allowed HelloFresh to operate this facility right next to residential neighborhoods. Now, as their decision continues to harm real people, city officials appear to be in no rush to address or correct their mistake. Rather, they seem to prefer ignoring and denying the problem as long as they can.
Fortunately, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency seems to be taking resident’s reports more seriously. In May 2023, the Illinois EPA issued HelloFresh a letter providing the company “notice of alleged violations of environmental laws, regulations, and permits”. The agency laid out 5 alleged violations in the letter, and provided HelloFresh 45 days to respond.
In addition to responding to the alleged violations, they also requested HelloFresh “submit to the Illinois EPA, Bureau of Air, Compliance Section, a complete, true, and accurate fugitive particulate operating plan designed to significantly reduce fugitive particulate matter emissions.” In other words, HelloFresh must provide a plan to significantly reduce the air pollution being created from operations outside of the building.
It is not immediately clear whether a response has been received by the Illinois EPA yet.
Despite the Illinois EPA’s involvement, potential resolution for the air quality issues near the HelloFresh factory is unlikely to come any time soon. So while the rest of Aurora can breathe a little easier this week, may we remember that the struggle for the health and safety of the Greenfield community, and surrounding areas, continues.
Full EPA letter can be found below:
***Edit: This story has been updated to remove language around the property being zoned for manufacturing. The HelloFresh facility is still under a B-2 “ Business District General Retail” Zoning District but was allowed to rezone the property to “Use Category 3140 Processing, Finishing, and Assembly Facilities, limited to food preparation, packaging, and distribution.”
Sources and Resources:
Illinois EPA: Submit a Pollution Complaint | click here
Chicago Sun-Times: Truck Pollution From Warehouses In Illinois | click here
Chicago Tribune: Air Quality Worst In The World This Week | click here
Crain’s Chicago Business: HelloFresh Acquires Batavia’s Factor 75 | click here
HelloFresh’s 45 Day Report to City Council | click here
Excellent reporting