Yahoo News Foul smell like 'rotten meat' from landfill by M66 'has finally gone', bosses say
Bosses at a landfill site next to a motorway which has been bombarding locals with a horrific stench, claim the nasty smell has finally been eradicated.
The Pilsouth South Landfill, a hotspot for complaints from residents in Bury and Rochdale, was likened to the odour of 'rotten meat' by those living nearby, causing them to feel sick. The Environment Agency has kept a close eye on the situation due to the severity of the complaints. Valencia Waste, the company responsible for the landfill located next to the M66, faced intense pressure to resolve the issue.
Calls for action reached as high as Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who, along with leaders from Rochdale and Bury councils, demanded that Valencia's environmental permit be revoked. In response to the outcry, a spokesperson from Valencia stated: "We have undertaken significant engineering work at our Pilsworth South site, installing capping and enhancing gas capture infrastructure.
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"The site has no areas of uncapped waste, and the landfill gas collection system is functioning well. Our internal and third-party contractor monitoring has found that there is no odour from our site detectable in nearby communities.
"We will continue to undertake this monitoring and respond as required should this situation change. Valencia would like to thank local people for their patience while we undertook our engineering works."
During a meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on March 22, Mr Burnham said the situation was 'not acceptable in the slightest'. He added he has met with officials from the EA and UK Health Security Agency to resolve the problem site, the Local Democracy Service reports.
The EA installed new monitoring facilities to track air quality around the site. They said there were no plans to remove Valencia's licence.
A spokesperson said: "The site is under no sanctions and we are not in the process of revoking the environmental permit. When the monitoring period finishes there will be a period of a few weeks to analyse the data and for a report to be produced. The data will then be shared with the UKHSA who will also examine the data to determine whether any emissions discharged in that time could constitute a risk to health."
"Currently, the operator is not accepting any waste; during this time we will continue to liaise with the operator in order to ensure that they are working to the best available techniques to mitigate against odour when they do start accepting waste again."
According to the EA, landfill gas contains trace components such as hydrogen sulphide that, even in very small quantities, has a strong smell of rotten eggs, which the human body is very sensitive to. The government body advises that although the smell can be strong and unpleasant, it does not automatically mean that it is harmful.
