A Canadian-owned waste oil reclamation company wants to reopen — and expand — a year after a fire shut down its eastside facility. But residents of Detroit’s Conner Creek neighborhood report improved air quality and conditions across the community following the plant’s closure.
Since its inception in 2012, Aevitas Specialty Services Corp. has received 64 air complaint investigations from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), with 17 investigations occurring between 2024 and 2025 alone.
Aevitas has received five violation notices from EGLE’s Air Quality Division since 2016, four of which concerned “persistent and objectionable odors of moderate to strong intensity impacting areas downwind of the facility,” according to EGLE documents.
In addition, the company has received six violation notices or compliance communications since Sept. 20, 2013, related to hazardous waste and non-hazardous liquid waste transportation and storage from EGLE’s Materials Management Division, according to EGLE Public Information Officer Josef Stephens.
While Aevitas CEO Robert Slater acknowledges the complaints and plans to implement systems to improve conditions in the reconstructed facility, community members stand in opposition to the plant’s repair.
Aevitas plans to rebuild and restore operations, intending to begin the construction process on July 20, 2026. But first it must receive approvals both from the City of Detroit and the State of Michigan.
Detroit resident and environmental activist Eden Bloom has lived approximately 1.5 miles from Aevitas for 12 years, and has been monitoring the company since 2019. In an interview with BridgeDetroit, Bloom described strong odors spanning across the neighborhood and causing residents to move indoors and close windows often.
“I’ve been on Cadillac (Boulevard) since 2014, and the issues with the odors and smells — usually characterized as burning oil, chemical smells or rotten egg smells — have been fairly consistent since we moved into the neighborhood, even going back to when we first moved in,” Bloom said.
The company and Bloom say the odors are likely the result of sulfuric compounds, which the facility uses when separating contaminants from oil.
On June 30, 2025, the facility suffered a fire caused by electrical failure on a piece of drying equipment, igniting nearby tanks and spilling 1,000 gallons of oily wastewater onto neighboring streets. The fire severely damaged equipment and destroyed oil processing abilities, resulting in the facility’s temporary closure.
Since the fire, Bloom said he’s found that odor complaints have decreased by 90%. He is tracking and sharing his findings on a website for the community called East Side Environmental.
“When Aevitas shut down due to the fire … the air quality in our neighborhood, in our little corner of the east side of Detroit, was much better and has improved greatly,” Bloom said.
Longstanding community complaints fueled an investigation by the Detroit City Council after the fire. In a July 16, 2025 memo, District 4 Council Member Latisha Johnson, who lives just two miles from the facility, proposed a resolution to examine legal options for rescinding city permits and investigating the facility.
“I am concerned about the baseline air quality and noxious odor issues at Aevitas as well as the impacts of this fire on the health of surrounding and downwind communities,” Johnson wrote.
The resolution was unanimously approved by the council, initiating an ongoing investigation into the company.
“My priority is making sure we clean the air for our residents, particularly those subjected to environmental pollutants in industrial areas,” Johnson told BridgeDetroit.
Company restoration plans
Aevitas, located at 663 Lycaste Street, is surrounded by residential areas to the south and west, with the closest home and Detroit River less than half a mile from the facility. The company has three main operations:
- Waste oil processing, where oil and oily wastewater are chemically treated to remove oil and contaminants and repurposed as industrial lubricants and cutting oils;
- Oil product blending, where good oil is removed from waste oil to be recycled or resold;
- Industrial liquid transportation, where tanker trucks retrieve oily waste from customer locations and deliver it to the Detroit plant
Slater maintains that the materials used at the plant are nonhazardous.
“There’s been some misinformation about what we do,” Slater said. “We’re not a hazardous waste processing plant. We’re not a solvent waste processing plant. There are other businesses in town that do that. It’s not what we do.”
Slater has been working with the company for 15 years and has served as CEO for the last six. In an interview with BridgeDetroit, Slater said Aevitas plans to demolish the fire-impacted portions of the building, rebuild and expand the facility, install upgraded wastewater-treatment and oil-recycling systems and add new odor control measures. He said the measures will help address longstanding complaints from residents.
In order to proceed with the plans, Detroit’s Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) must approve the site plan Aevitas submitted on May 27 and grant special land-use approval. The plan outlines arrangements to demolish a 7,744-square-foot portion of the 15,757-square-foot building and extend the remaining portion by 16,177 square feet for a waste oil recycling center, according to BSEED zoning inspector Kevin Ramos.
“The only place the word ‘expansion’ appears in the application is expanding the footprint of the building itself, but it’s going to enclose the same set of tanks,” Slater said.
In addition, EGLE must approve the company’s air use Permit to Install (PTI) submitted this April, including plans for implementing new and expanded odor control measures.
Slater explained new advances in the oil processing system to avoid strong odors, including a foam fire suppression system, advanced chemical treatment and the addition of two new wet air oxidation scrubber systems to fight odors by cleaning and treating air and water vapor that escapes during the drying process. This process will replace the single scrubber system previously used.
“Those (scrubber systems) will run continuously and destroy compounds such as hydrogen sulfide that in small amounts can still produce noticeable odors,” Slater said.
Land use oversight
While EGLE’s public hearing remains unscheduled, BSEED held its special land-use public hearing on June 17 over Zoom. Following the hearing, the Solid Waste Review Committee will provide a recommendation to BSEED’s director and a decision will be made two to three weeks from the hearing date regarding the land-use approval.
During the hearing, Slater was presented with questions and comments from the Planning and Development Department, City Planning Commission, BSEED Environmental Affairs, Department of Public Works, Detroit Health Department, and the Detroit Fire Department.
The departments questioned Slater on variances Aevitas is seeking from the Board of Zoning Appeals.
The variances concern building features that have existed on the property for decades, such as maintaining an existing chain-link fence without alternations, avoiding paving a gravel lot, and avoiding demolishing a portion of the facility’s roof that extends over a sidewalk, all on the basis of expense and impairing parking areas.
Scott Withington, environmental health general manager at the Detroit Health Department, raised concerns about leaving areas unpaved where company trucks will be parked.
“I also do express some concern that the dust mitigation using gravel surface versus paved surface does increase the potential issues with the dust and track out, especially after heavy rainstorms and other conditions that can make issues with gravel or dirt areas,” Withington said.
Another frequent topic was Aevitas’ air quality and emissions, with BSEED Environmental Affairs staff pointing out that the site does not currently have property line air quality monitors.
Within the submitted PTI, Aevitas discloses the emission of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) at 1.1 tons per year, and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) at 5.6 tons per year, among other compounds. During public comment, Andrew Bashi, staff attorney at the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, emphasized the severity of the potential emissions, claiming the pollutants are “undercounted.”
“Despite Mr. Slater’s statements, this facility does not only emit odor,” Bashi said, “the applicant’s own April 2026 EGLE (PTI) filing reports nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, VOCs, fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and hazardous air pollutants, including hexane. Wayne County is already violating federal health-based ozone standards, VOCs and NOx are ozone precursors, and we also believe that those projected emissions in the permit are significantly undercounted.”
Slater later told BridgeDetroit the disclosed amounts are meant to display that Aevitas’ emissions are in compliance with air standards regulated by the Clean Air Act.
“What the permit shows is that potential emissions from the plant by processing waste oil will stay at a very low level, that’s what you see in that permit,” Slater said. “That permit shows that whatever VOC emissions we have the potential to emit are well below the toxic standards of those regulations.”
According to Stephens, EGLE engineers look at all proposed emissions from a facility during the permitting process and a permit cannot be issued if emissions do not meet the applicable standard.
The June BSEED hearing also addressed concerns regarding Aevitas’ zoning classification. During public comment, Erin Stanley, a policy analyst with Johnson’s office, said city records designate the facility’s land-use as a warehouse, even though it is operating as an oil recycling facility, and has not been substantially updated for over six decades. According to Stanley, the city is calling for BSEED to either deny the land-use permit or reject proposed variances and for the facility to install fence line air monitors, integrate vegetative buffering, designate truck routes, and enclose all operations including truck loading.
“Following the fire last June, our office asked both BSEED and the Legislative Policy Division to provide information on the facility’s history and enforcement options the city has,” Stanley said. “We were disappointed to learn that they were operating illegally as an oil and lubricant recycling facility with a land use designation of warehouse and the last permit from the 1960s.”
According to a January 2026 memo from BSEED, when the facility was inspected on Oct. 6, 2025, Aevitas received a violation for illegally operating as an oil and lubricant recycling facility while the building had a current legal use as a warehouse, and it is required to submit a change of use or classification permit to reflect the actual use of the property.
Fumes ‘Not a healthy thing’
Residents surrounding the facility have been actively speaking up for years and filing complaints with the city and the state. Many are frustrated and feel their complaints have not been addressed.
“I have had a real problem with the lack of response from our elected officials around these issues,” Bloom said.
Eastside residents worry that these odors also come with a price. Detroit resident Latonya Foster said during public comment at the BSEED hearing that she has researched the effects of industrial odor exposure and has health concerns.
“I have suffered through the noxious fumes waking me up out of my sleep, just being so pungent and so unpleasant…It’s just not a healthy thing,” Foster said. “There are all types of ramifications, from iron irritation, respiratory illnesses, all the way to metabolic dysfunctions and cancer. There’s a slew of them, and I would love to know why this even exists in our neighborhood.”
Bloom, a father of three, believes his children have been impacted by air pollution in the area.
“Two of my three kids have been diagnosed with asthma,” Bloom said.
In addition to health concerns, residents feel that the odors limit their ability to enjoy their homes. Detroit resident Valencia Stoudamire said during the hearing that the odors have prevented her from opening her windows during vulnerable times.
“My mother was receiving hospice care in my home, and I wanted to open the windows so she could get fresh air, and we had to close them back because of the smell,” Stoudamire said. “She couldn’t even get fresh air.”
Many residents reported calling DTE Energy, thinking there was a gas leak, when in reality it was odors from the plant. John Maya, manager of Parkway Foods, a family-owned grocery store just 0.3 miles from Aevitas, told BridgeDetroit that gas-like odors could be smelled from the parking lot multiple times a month when Aevitas was operating.
“There’s a plant near our building; there used to be a strong gas odor and you can smell it as soon as you walk out,” Maya said. “A lot of customers were fearful, they thought there was gas in the store…When we first opened up, we contacted DTE because we thought there was something wrong, they told us, ‘it’s not you guys, it’s the plant.’”
In addition to odor and corresponding health concerns, residents also take issue with truck traffic associated with the company. Bloom told BridgeDetroit that he has tracked Aevitas trucks driving through his neighborhood on residential streets.
“All that truck traffic is supposed to stay on Jefferson, and in an ideal sense, they really shouldn’t be getting off I-75 at all,” Bloom said. “If they would actually take I-94 to Conner Street, and then Conner Street down to the facility, that would actually run the trucks through the industrial zoned area instead of running it through in the residential areas.”
Slater told BridgeDetroit he has since spoken with drivers about avoiding neighborhood streets.
“We have a driver discipline system, the trucks are all on GPS units, and we can monitor their routes,” Slater said.
As Aevitas advances through the city and state approval process, Bloom hopes that the city will protect and empower residents after years of complaint and unease.
“I’m hoping by working with the city and engaging this way with BSEED that we’ll get some better results,” Bloom said. “I’m very frustrated with how things go at the state level, and this is an opportunity for the city to actually take some of the power that they have and use it on behalf of the residents.”