Community Corner

What's that Smell?: Residents Urge Action on Odor

Residents along Summit and Springfield border are upset about the smell from county leaf composting facility at a former quarry site.

Springfield residents say something stinks. 

Several residents have contacted Springfield Mayor Ziad Shehady with requests to look into unpleasant odors they say are emanating from the Union County quarry facility near the Summit border.

Earlier this month, several Springfield residents posted on Shehady’s Facebook wall asking the mayor to investigate a smell they believe is caused by leaves at the quarry. The former quarry site is owned by Union County. The county’s department of public works uses part of the site as a compost facility, which is operated by Nature's Choice Corporation, a private company contracted by the county.

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“I just walked out my front door and the smell is horrendous,” one Springfield resident wrote. “Plus, I wonder if any health issues can come from the poor air quality.” 

Other Springfield residents living in the neighborhood near the quarry expressed concern about smells from the facility on Shehady’s Facebook wall. One resident said the smell made her embarrassed to have guests over.

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Shehady said Union County Public Works Director Joe Graziano told him the smell was probably not coming from the quarry, but from mulch spread by grounds keepers at golf course.

The residents doubted that conclusion, saying that the odor has been happening for several days and doesn’t smell like mulch. One said that the smell had been a constant problem over the last three years.

The county is trying to remedy the situation. Union County Director of Communications Sebastian D’elia said that towns often stockpile their leaves before delivering them to the facility. As a result, leaves are deprived of oxygen and enter an anaerobic state where, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, they produce "volatile organic acids (which have vinegar, cheesy, goaty, and sour odors), alcohols and esters (fruity, floral, alcohol-like), and amines and sulfur compounds (barnyard, fishy, rotten) can be produced."

“One way to avoid this is for the towns to lime their leaves prior to bringing them to the compost facility,” D’elia said. “We have mandated that all towns that stockpile their leaves must also lime them before they are transported to our facility. We have rejected truckloads of leaves from towns because this problem.”

D’elia said that the unseasonable warm recent temperatures have caused the leaves to have stronger odors than usual. He said that the county is conscious of how smells from the facility can impact nearby neighborhoods, noting that the contractor does not turn the leaves if the wind is blowing towards residential areas above the facility.

D’elia said in addition to contacting the contractor of the facility, the county has reached out to towns that stockpile leaves about the need to treat leaves with lime.

“Future loads from these towns will continue to be sent away if they continue to be problematic,” D’elia said. "We have contacted the contractor of the facility to inform them of these issues and to address them as well."

Shehady said that lime treatments to the leaves in the facility had been effective in the past and praised the County’s Department of public works for its help.


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