Car Air Freshener Company Thinks Proposal To Open Slaughterhouse Next To Its Corporate HQ Stinks

You might’ve used a pine tree-shaped air freshener in your car to make sure your vehicle doesn’t smell like an animal died inside it. Car-Freshner, the company behind those rearview mirror accessories also wants to make sure its space doesn’t smell like meat, and is warning officials in a New York town that it’ll move its corporate headquarters if a proposed slaughterhouse opens up next door.

A senior official with Car-Freshner Corp. promised the town of Watertown Planning board that his company will pick up and move out of the area if the 42,000-square-foot meat processing plants is approved to move in nearby, reports the Watertown Daily Times.

The air freshener folks say that the smells wafting over from a facility so close to its property would interfere with the testing of fragrances at the company’s state-of-the-art labs.

“The aroma industry is very important to us,” Daniel Samann, general counsel for Car-Freshner told the Board. “Even the smallest of summer odors makes it very difficult for us to do our jobs. … I don’t want this to happen.”

A group of local investors had proposed a $20.6 million facility that would work with dairy and livestock farmers within 100 miles of Watertown. The developers said that to be a good neighbor, they’re looking into special air purifier systems to be installed in the plant that would cut down on odors.

The planning board and town officials are planning to visit a plant similar to the proposed facility to get a better idea of what they’re like, before moving forward in the site plan approval process. Town planners will be considering the environmental quality review and noise, odor, water usage and quality of life issues.

Company official: Car-Freshner will move out of Watertown if meat plant gets approval [Watertown Daily Times]

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