An open landfill cell has been identified as the reason for the smell
The Environment Agency (EA) says its identified the cause of an odour in Calne that has lead to almost 2,000 complaints in the last two months.
The organisation says an open landfill cell at the Lower Compton Household Recycling Centre is the culprit and it’s working alongside site owners, Hills Waste Solution, to remedy the problem.
Reports of an odour in the town have grown since the start of the year, with 117 across January and February – however EA says they were mostly linked to additional gas collection wells being installed, which included digging into waste that had been deposited recently.
However, that work was completed on 6th February and complaints have only escalated since.
In March, over 1,000 complaints were made, while April has seen over 700 already.
In an update, the Environment Agency said: “While landfills and other waste activities will always generate smells, the impact on people living near them should be minimal. It is clear from the recent reports that the current controls in place at Lower Compton landfill are not performing as expected and are therefore inadequate.”
The organisation says the stench is originating from Cell 26D at the Lower Compton site.
Officials are conducting regular offside odour assessments at times when the smell is reported most often, which is early morning and evening.
Air quality monitoring on levels of Hydrogen Sulphide, Methane and Particulates has been in place since last October and the results of that will be shared with the UK Health Security Agency can issue a public health update.
EA insists the issue is down to Hills to solve and has acted them provide both short and long-term solution plans.
Short term actions include:
- Change in material used as cover in the operational area from ‘trommel fines’ to soil. Work has been ongoing since 27 March to cover the operational area with soil, and we expect this action to be completed this week.
- Ongoing review of temporary gas collection within the cell and installation of further gas collection wells.
- Ongoing monitoring to check the effectiveness of the cover being placed
Medium term actions include:
- Permanent capping of the current operational area. This has been brought forward from July and will now start in early May. The work is expected to be completed within 13 weeks. Permanent capping and installation of permanent gas collection infrastructure is the best long-term solution to minimise odour and emissions.
Weekly inspections of the site are being carried out to monitor the progress of these solutions, while EA says several factors are likely to have influenced the odour increase and they’re considering those in their demands of Hills.
EA says odour impacts of this level are not acceptable and the operator must take swift action to resolve them.
We’re asked to continue reporting odour concerns via 24‑hour incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60 or the online GOV.UK service: Report a smell from a waste facility, industrial site or farm in England – GOV.UK
