Welsh county dealing with odours of sewage and rotten eggs for ‘hours or days’

Anthony Lewis. Local democracy reporter

Landfill odours are lasting for hours or days and affecting residents’ daily lives and well being.

That’s what Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) resident Sorrel Hill told councillors during a public presentation to full council recently on the long-term odour issues affecting the Abernant, Llwydcoed and surrounding areas, and how they continue to impact residents’ daily lives and well being.

She said: “For years residents have experienced repeated episodes of strong sewage or rotten egg odours. These episodes are unpredictable and can last for hours or days.”

She said residents have reported landfill odour associated symptoms such as nausea, headaches and respiratory irritation.

She added that a key difficulty for residents is that current monitoring relies heavily on intermittent site visits and complaint led investigations so odours can rise and fall quickly meaning impacts experienced by residents are often not captured at the time they actually occur.

She said: “This is further compounded by under reporting as many residents experience complaint fatigue or are unclear about how or when to report odour incidents.”

She added that continuous automated odour and gas monitoring, sometimes called continued real time monitoring, would provide objective time stamped data that reflects what residents are actually experiencing.

Ms Hill said that this type of monitoring is used elsewhere and has been recommended at national level.

Residents are also awaiting for further clarity from NRW (Natural Resources Wales) regarding ongoing investigations.

Ms Hill said: “While residents understand that investigations take time, clearer and more regular updates would help reduce uncertainty and improve confidence in the process.”

She referenced recent Senedd committee findings on landfill odour issues elsewhere in Wales which highlighted the importance of continuous automated monitoring, transparent publication of data, and clear communication with affected communities.

“While every site is different, these principles are clearly relevant where persistent odour impact is being experienced.

“Residents are seeking support, transparency, and meaningful engagement particularly assistance in progressing continuous automated monitoring so that concerns can be assessed fairly, consistently, and based on evidence.

“This would help reduce dispute, improve trust, and allow clearer responses when odour events occur.”

Councillor Andrew Morgan, leader of the council, said there have been conversations going on between the council and Amgen officers about this and there has been proactive work undertaken in terms of trying to address odour concerns and complaints.

He said 101 air quality sample investigations have been undertaken and they’ve not yet been able to identify any pervasive landfill gas or rotten egg smells when the testing has been done.

Cllr Morgan said the majority of samples showed hydrogen sulphate levels below the threshold where you can smell it.

He said officers have been in touch with a number of agencies including public health and NRW and that public health, NRW, and Amgen have been to the site and carried out testing.

He said no household waste has been put into the landfill site for over 10 years because it goes to energy from waste and that capping work has been done to make sure that if there is any gas escaping it is sealed and caught and that NRW have overseen this and is happy with the work that’s been done.

He said the periodic testing is going to continue from early in the morning until late at night adding that the point about permanent monitoring is something officers can have a further look at.

He said: “I hope you can be reassured that first of all a number of actions have been taken at the landfill site and it’s been agreed by NRW and they’re quite complimentary about the actions that Amgen have taken.”

He also said that 50% of all the complaints have come from one street alone in Abernant adding it’s really unusual that there are a number of residents in a really small locality detecting it.

He added that there needs to be further investigations and testing.