Dive summary:
- Moretown landfill in Vermont is looking to expand but residents say the landfills intake of sludge from Vermont, New York and Massachusetts, about 23,000 tons, is already too much for them to deal with.
- In a string of health and safety concerns, the problem is only getting worse, one resident claims the smell from the landfill, which is about 17% sludge, causes his nose and mouth to go numb multiple times a day.
- The proposed expansion project would expand one cell of the landfill to be 80 feet higher than the current elevation, lengthening the life of the dump by 15 to 18 years and cost about $3.4 million.
From the article:
Once or twice a day, sometimes more often, Scott Baughman’s nose and tongue go numb. For several hours, he can’t smell or taste anything. This is a problem for a man who runs an organic compost business from home, and who relies on his sense of smell to determine the health of his compost. It’s also a problem if he wants to taste his lunch.
The sensation, he says, starts with the smell of sewage wafting from Moretown Landfill, located adjacent to his property. That odor is followed by an artificial fruity smell from the chemical odor neutralizers the landfill uses. Then, Baughman says, the numbness sets in. ...
