County agency working to control landfill odors

LAFAYETTE - “It’s a problem. I get headaches and my nose burns from it.” The speaker didn’t want to be identified, but this wasn’t a tale told out of school. It’s no secret that, depending on conditions at the Sussex County Municipal Utilities Authority landfill on Route 94, it’s often an ill-smelling wind that blows in the facility’s vicinity. The citizen who contacted The Advertiser-News about the less-than-pleasant aromas, said he first contacted the authority about the problem almost a year ago. The smell was continuous through April, he said, but abated during the summer months. “Now it’s kicking up again and that’s why I’m raising a flag,” he said. “My way of living is unbearable, it wakes me up at night. I can’t live.” He said he was told that the vapors, although offensive to the nose, are not harmful to breathe. He said he was promised testing results but has not received information although he has asked numerous times. “They have been dodging it. It doesn’t give me a good feeling.” Mayor John D’Angeli, whose home also is approximately a mile from the landfill, acknowledged the intermittent odor, saying, “It depends on which way the wind is blowing.” The resident said that most of the council lives “within smelling distance” of the landfill, but that SCMUA’s Solid Waste Superintendent/Chief Engineer Thomas Varro makes it seem like “I’m the only one complaining, and I know there has to be more than one person that’s bothered by the smell. It’s a public health hazard.” When contacted by The Advertiser-News, Varro acknowledged that there has been an odor problem, but said that steps have been taken to alleviate it. “We are trying to resolve this within reason and with any other residents who may have concerns,” Varro said. “ We are trying to work it out so that everyone will be satisfied. “We had a period where early this year, January into April, when there was a problem at the landfill. That problem is that as the waste decomposes, it produces methane which an odorless gas, but it also produces other gases that vent out of the landfill.” Varro said the smell is “not persistent.” In response to initial complaints, Varro said, SCMUA installed eight gas extractor wells, apparently curing the problem for the moment but not permanently. Earlier in the year, he went on, the wells began filling with liquid from the landfill and became less efficient. Some stopped functioning altogether, allowing the gas to escape again. Optimal weather conditions for gas production in April and May exacerbated the problem. Heavy autumn rains again caused problems. “We have a gas extraction system that makes things a lot better,” Varro said. “We have had the wettest October on record, and that has created a number of operational concerns which may have led to some odors leaving the site,” explained Varro. “Currently, we are trying ‘odor control socks’ with an odor neutralizing agent that should help it as it migrates off the site,” he said, outlining the continuing efforts he is making to stop the smells. In addition, the authority is testing one odor controlling chemical that can be sprayed and another that is dispensed as a mist. “We are tying to be good neighbors with the residents of Lafayette, and we have a good relationship with the council,” Varro said. “But I think I would be lying if I said there would never be an odor problem. There are conditions that will crop up that are unavoidable. We can try to minimize the number of occurrences and severity of the situations,” concluded Varro. D’Angeli said that after some residents had complained at municipal offices, township officials met with Varro and authority administrator John Hatzelis. The mayor said that the situation seemed to be corrected, but recently there have been some occasions when the odor was apparent, although not as bad as earlier in the year. He added that in spite of the periodic problems with the odor, “We are fortunate the facility is not run by a private operator; that would be a disaster. I’m pleased that the county took over operation of the landfill I think it benefits the whole county.” Lafayette has fought against a private landfill in the past. “We voted against the landfill years ago,” said D’Angeli, “and we won a few battles but couldn’t win the war.”