Review the Regulation of Odour Management of Landfill Sites

We call for the Government to review how the Environment Agency monitors and manages levels of malodourous gasses. Consideration should be given to compulsory monitoring of emissions of landfill sites and for the EA to be obliged to act with urgency when high levels of odour complaints are received.

Many communities are blighted by odour issues from landfill sites. The odour from a poorly managed landfill site can reach for many miles around and affect thousands of residents directly in their own homes, workplaces and places of leisure. The malodourous gasses can greatly affect physical and mental health. It should not be acceptable that communities suffer continuous or persistent odour issues from landfill sites and living in close proximity to one should not be detrimental to residents.

Whilst no dedicated review of the monitoring and management of odours from landfill is currently planned, the Government and the Environment Agency (EA) keep the legislative framework and powers available to protect human health and the environment under review. The result of such work is evident through our Resources and Waste Strategy and our ambition to eliminate crime and poor performance in the waste sector.

The Government takes the issue of odour from landfill seriously and there have been debates in Parliament on this topic, most recently on 19 May 2021.

Landfill and other types of waste management facility are regulated by the EA in England, which issues and regulates environmental permits. These permits set limits, including for odours, within which operations can be undertaken without causing a significant impact on the environment. Whilst no landfill will ever be completely odour free, the level and type of odour arising from such operations should not be causing serious offence.

Where appropriate, operators must provide an Odour Management Plan describing measures they will take to minimise odour. The EA sets out how the monitoring should be carried out, the required competency of staff and the equipment to be used. If the plan is accepted, it is incorporated into the site’s environmental permit as an ‘operating technique’. The operator should keep that plan under review and the plan can be required to be updated if there is a problem, or if it is not working as originally intended. The EA also imposes a condition that requires operators to use approved measures to manage their activity to minimise odour emissions. If operations are not being undertaken in accordance with these plans, then the EA has a range of enforcement powers they can and do use.