Dive Brief:

• Waste Management Inc. has been ordered by Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to close its Tullytown, PA landfill by 2017. It is located on the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border.

• The landfill has been the focus of residents’ ire and complaints for years; residents say foul odors are coming from the landfill.

• Waste Management has expanded the landfill since opening it, and has spent millions of dollars on improvements to the site. Recent improvements were made to address an odor violation that the state DEP found in October 2014.

Dive Insight:

While Waste Management has taken steps to decrease odors coming from its Tullytown landfill, truly controlling such odors is a very tricky business. But when it comes to proper operation of a landfill, controlling bad smells is a primary task.