‘It’s putrid’: Something stinks in one neighbourhood. Residents are demanding answers

In the bedroom community of Stoney Creek, in Hamilton, the sidewalks and playgrounds have been fairly quiet this summer.

“On good days you’d see people jogging and kids playing,” said resident Tony DiMaria.

But an ongoing stench is keeping people indoors.

“A lot of people have been staying inside,” he said. “It’s putrid, it smells like rotten eggs, we’ve been dealing with this all summer.”

Residents don’t have to look far for the source. It’s coming from a large landfill, which was here before a lot of the homes in this sprawling community were built around it.

“We’ve had smells before but never this bad.” DiMaria said.

While most complaints from residents hit a fever pitch this summer, the stench has been ongoing since April.

“The odours started early on when they were constructing a new cell for the landfill,” said Hamilton City Councillor Brad Clark.

“It seemed to be coming from a leachate pond and the company was quick to react to fix the problem but it hasn’t worked.”

The landfill, which collects non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste, is privately owned by G.F.L. and they’ve been working with officials from the Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.) to find a solution.

“We’ve had staff here since April, monitoring this situation on the landfill site,” said Stephen Burt, with the M.O.E.

He says staff at G.F.L. have been cooperative.

“They remain committed and have not once questioned anything we’ve asked of them,” Burt said.

Long-term solution is planned

The landfill is installing several temporary odour control solutions and is working on a bigger, more permanent fix.

“The ultimate solution is a packaged treatment plant that would be enclosed and sealed,” Burt said.

“That will be much more effective at minimizing or mitigating any odour generation.”

Burt said plans for construction are being fast-tracked but are still only in the engineering phase and he could not give an estimate on a completion timeline.

“Something has to be done now, we can’t live like this anymore,” said resident Jay Singh. “People should have the right to walk outside and not smell this, it’s constant.”

Residents worry about health impacts

While the stench is bad, some residents worry it’s impacting their health.

“My son is 13 and when he goes outside to play he gets a headache,” said resident, Nana El Zeinab. “I’m very worried whatever is coming from the landfill is in the air.”

In response, The M.O.E. has dispatched a mobile air monitoring van which has been tracking the air quality in the day and night, Burt said.

While the test results still have to be finalized, Burt said there are no alarm bells in early findings.

“The real issue we remain committed to solving is the stench,” Burt said. “My staff will remain on this landfill site until it’s mitigated.”

Landfill has long history here

The landfill was created in 1996, then called the Taro East Landfill under previous ownership, at a time when the area was largely rural. Since then an explosion of housing communities and developments were built surrounding it.

Many residents, like El Zeinab, who bought a home here five years ago, were under the impression the landfill would close.

“I was told by the salesperson there were plans to turn it into a golf course,” she said.

But in 2019, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks allowed the landfill to expand to accept more non-hazardous waste.

“Since then, the hills collecting waste have been getting higher and higher,” El Zeinab said. “You see them towering over our neighbourhoods and playgrounds”

The expansion also extended the life of the landfill, with estimates it could continue operating for another 10 to 15 years.

“The sad truth is we need landfills,” M.P.P. Donna Skelly said. “But residents should not have to deal with major impacts like this smell.”

Skelly has called a special meeting with the operators of the landfill to get answers.

“I am committed to ensure they expedite the process so they contain the odors in the leachate and people can go back to normal,” Skelly said. “If it’s not done soon we’ll be looking at fines.”

That meeting is scheduled for September 7th.

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