Dive Brief:

• The city of Columbia, Missouri has reached a settlement agreement with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to install a new odor control system at a local landfill. The city also will build a new recycling deposit site as part of the settlement.
• The settlement arose from violations dating to 2013, when Missouri’s DNR found the city’s landfill was violating laws by allowing leachate to be formed, and for not putting enough daily cover atop the waste. The city agreed to fund $110,000 in various waste-related projects, rather than paying a fine for those violations. Funds will come from the landfill operations budget.
• To reach the recently agreed upon settlement, the city agreed to spend $30,000 on odor controls and the new 10,000 square foot recycling drop-off site will cost $85,000 to $95,000.

Dive Insight:

Odor control can become an issue at landfills, and can be a source of friction with neighbors of landfills. Decreasing the odors that come from a landfill can be difficult, it is achievable. Keeping bad smells tamped down at a landfill is good business, whether the site is owned by a for-profit firm, or by a local government.