Landfill emissions worse than initially recorded

Walleys Quarry landfill in Silverdale has been the subject of complaints of odour for many years

Pollution detectors at a controversial landfill site have been underreporting levels of hydrogen sulphide, the chemical responsible for unpleasant smells at the site, a report has said.

New data has been published after a discovery that monitoring equipment at Walleys Quarry in Staffordshire had been incorrectly calibrated. The site has been the subject of complaints about obnoxious smells for several years.

Levels of hydrogen sulphide emitted from the site were under recorded from when the equipment was installed in 2016 and the issue being discovered in August 2023.

The Environment Agency said it would host a virtual public meeting on Wednesday 28 August to answer questions from the public.

Data up to the end of August 2023 showed continuing exposure to the population around the landfill site, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

Over this period, the three closest monitoring sites regularly recorded concentrations of hydrogen sulphide exceeding guideline levels.

People living around the site were likely to experience headaches, nausea, dizziness, watery eyes, stuffy noses, irritated throats, coughs or wheezes, sleep problems and stress, the document adds.

People who have health conditions that affect breathing, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), may experience a worsening of their symptoms, it says.

The UKHSA said the risk to long-term health could not be ruled out, where concentrations were above the long-term health-based guidance value but it added that currently this risk was likely to be small.

The EA said it was sorry for the error, and for the concern that it had caused.

“We have updated the calibration procedure in line with the manufacturer’s recommendations and are confident in the H2S data we have been collecting since 1 September 2023 for all MMFs,” a statement on its website said.

“We continue to produce monthly air quality reports using data recorded by analysers subject to the updated calibration procedures, which are available to view on our Air Quality Monitoring page.”