Residents complain about worsening smell coming from Perth landfill site

ABC NEWS (Australia)

An ongoing row over worsening odours from the Tamala Park waste landfill site in Perth's northern suburbs is proving difficult to resolve. Operators have taken steps to address the issue but residents say it hasn't solved the pungent problem.

Transcript

00:00When you visit a rubbish tip, you expect a bit of a smell.

00:08But residents in suburbs surrounding the Tamala Park landfill say they're sick of living with

00:13its foul stench.

00:14Stop the stink!

00:16They've woken up with this horrible gassy stuff that's making their throats sore, making

00:22their eyes water, making them wretched and retching.

00:27Depends on which way the wind's blowing, I guess, you get that pongy smell.

00:30The site services around 800,000 residents from seven councils from Joondalup to Victoria

00:36Park, taking waste from almost 60,000 residential red bins.

00:42Fresh waste on the surface is the main culprit.

00:45The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has received more than 2,000 DOTA

00:50complaints this year.

00:52Last year there were 113.

00:57Residents say the bad smell comes and goes depending on a few factors, like which way

01:01the wind is blowing, how hot it is and whether it's been raining.

01:06The Mundari Regional Council says it's doing its best to contain the smell.

01:11We've stopped the delivery of materials to landfill at night.

01:14We've also stopped the delivery of all commercial waste loads which are happening on site.

01:18We've fundamentally increased the amount of cover which we put on our landfills on a daily

01:22basis.

01:23So that's done in a manner to try and prevent any odours escaping from the landfill into

01:28the environment.

01:30The council also recently installed three gas extraction pipelines which will generate

01:35electricity and reduce the odour.

01:38Experts say ideally there wouldn't be a smell.

01:41If the perceived effect is increased over time, that's a cause for concern.

01:46Ideally a properly operated landfill should have no odour.

01:50The EMRC says residents should expect some smells and wants people to continue reporting

01:55bad odours.

01:56It lets us know exactly what's happening in the community and it also lets us know whether

02:00the measures which we're implementing are making a difference.

02:03The landfill is not expected to close for another four years, leaving residents in limbo.

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