Erin Landfill site: Environmental Agency issues update following number of smell complaints while Derbyshire site operator promises improvements

The Environment Agency issued a newsletter about the ‘odorous’ Erin Landfill to update the residents of Duckmanton, Poolsbrook and the surrounding areas about regulation of the site.

In the newsletter, the Agency recognised that the number of smell complaints increased in December last year and remained high through January and February but decreased in March – soon after the landfill operator Valencia confirmed the site would temporarily stop accepting waste deliveries.

The newsletter reads: “Environment Agency officers have inspected the site several times and undertaken odour assessments on and off-site. We have detected offsite landfill gas odours, however during our inspections onsite odours have been transient with no significant point source.

“Some issues regarding leachate management and use of covering material have been detected but these are not significant enough to have caused the level of odour reported. We have reviewed a number of areas of work with the operator. Valencia Waste Management Ltd has been carrying out engineering work to improve their gas collection system, which may have resulted in an increase in odour.

“This work is ongoing, and we have provided guidance to the operator to minimise odours during this work.

“For a period at the end of February into March the operator stopped receiving waste at the site, while infrastructure improvements were continuing. Waste began to be received again on 18 March.”

Cllr Anne-Frances Hayes said that since March 18 she has started to receive complaints about the smell again.

Commenting on the newsletter, Cllr Hayes added: “After numerous complaints from constituents and as part of my campaign to hold the operator to account, I have lobbied the Environment Agency to produce a newsletter about matters concerning Erin Landfill at Duckmanton. I am pleased that the Agency has issued its first edition of the newsletter and I am hopeful that this will be the first of many.

“Residents can contact the Agency to be placed on the mailing list for future copies. Copies will also be provided to everyone who makes a complaint about the future operations of the landfill site. In addition, I will forward copies too to members of the Landfill Community Liaison Group.

“For years residents of Duckmanton and Poolsbrook have felt their complaints about the various issues at the site have been ignored. I hope this will go some way to mitigating those feelings and explain the Agency’s engagement with the site operators.

“In the meantime, I urge residents to continue to report incidences of the foul odour and other disruptions to their daily lives from the landfill to the Agency’s incident line on 0800 807 060.”

A spokesperson for Valencia said: “We are committed to operating the Erin landfill site safely, in accordance with our environmental permit and as a good neighbour. In recent months we have restarted the community liaison group at the site and enhanced our communications with the local residents.

“Valencia is investing in the site to support the region to boost waste that can be recycled along with undertaking a planned engineering programme to install up to 17 landfill gas collection wells and associated infrastructure. These measures are designed to minimise any potential odours occurring onsite.”