Smell Hotline

Every so often, there's an uproar from small towns in New Jersey over the smell of their local landfills. Nobody wants a landfill in their neighborhood, yet the metabolism of the anthroposphere demands we do something with all this stuff.  Landfill owners go to great lengths to keep their dumps from offgassing, but it doesn't always work. In an effort to control fugitive emissions, there's a 'bad smell hotline' for residents to log their odor experiences.

Due to its central location and excellent road network, Tinton Falls has been home to a number of solid waste and recycling facilities. In 1976, the County opened its regional landfill at Asbury Ave. and Shafto Rd. Monmouth County currently provides an annual "host community fee" of over $2,400,000 to the Borough of Tinton Falls, acting as a direct offset to local property taxes. Over $5,000,000 has been spent to date on landfill gas controls, but the nature of the landfill operation can, on occasion, lead to odor problems.

The major sources of odors are gases from the decomposing trash, and from the "fresh" trash being delivered. A sophisticated gas collection system (collected gas is then used to create electricity) is added to each new disposal area as it is developed. Negative air flow and fabric/charcoal filters are used in the receiving building to capture and minimize odors from daily trash deliveries.
“Air Quality" - Monmouth County, New Jersey's Home Page
https://co.monmouth.nj.us/page.aspx?ID=2132

And here are some of their suggestions for describing unpleasant odors:

sour, pungent

burnt rubber

ammonia

fishy

putrid, rotten

fecal, sewer

rotten eggs

sour

moldy, musty

woody, mulch smell

sulfur

chlorine

manure, farm

burnt, smoky

chemical

other