Fact Sheet 2 August 2010

Orchard Hills and Winnebago Landfills
Ogle and Winnebago Counties

Over the past year there have been multiple accounts of odor complaints from areas surrounding the Orchard Hills and Winnebago Landfills. Given concerns for public health and the environment, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) inspected each of the landfills to determine if there was a problem with odors at the landfills in question, Sulfur-like odors were detected during some of these inspections at each landfill. Since that time, the Illinois EPA has been working to evaluate both landfill operations in an effort to ensure the health and safety of the community and the protection of the environment during operation of the landfills.

Compliance Issues

The Illinois EPA issued a Violation Notice (VN) for each landfill on February 4, 2010 due to odor issues. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) also issued a VN for each landfill. The Illinois EPA and U.S. EPA continue to work together to bring the landfills into full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and to mitigate the odor issues being experienced by the surrounding communities as soon as possible.

To date, the following measures have been taken or are planned to eliminate odors:

• Ceased accepting pulverized drywall fines,
• Conducts daily on-site inspections to identify if portions of landfill are odorous, as well as monitoring incoming refuse to identify particularly odorous waste,
• Implemented use of odor neutralizers,
• Placed additional soil cover over areas suspected of generating odors,
• Immediately buries and covers specific odorous waste streams,
• Suspended leachate recirculation in portions of the landfill where odors are detected,
• Increased frequency of gas well field monitoring when landfills odors are detected beyond property boundaries,
• Created plan for qualitative odor monitoring and continue to work with the Illinois EPA on a plan for quantitative H2S monitoring,
• Evaluated landfill gas collection system, resulting in the installation of 13 additional vertical extraction wells, and
• Installing three new blowers and an additional enclosed flare that, in conjunction with existing equipment, will provide total gas control better than that which is predicted to be necessary for the life of the landfill.

To date, the following measures have been taken or are planned to eliminate odors:

• Ceased accepting pulverized drywall, a likely source of sulfurous odors, and has implemented a management plan to monitor incoming waste streams,
• Used compost and lime as cover materials to neutralize hydrogen sulfide (H2S),
• Placed low-permeability clay soils at the outside edge areas of the landfill unit to address the potential for less-efficient gas collection in these areas,
• Ceased recirculation of leachate,
• Prepared “Odor Management Plan,” including “Odor Monitoring Plan” - with utilization a Scentometer for identification of odor levels at or beyond the landfill property lines,
• Installed additional gas collection wells in closed southern portion of landfill (South Unit) with plans to install horizontal collection system in northern portion of landfill that most recently began operation (North Expansion),
• Plans to relocate and reconfigure existing flares to facilitate better control of the landfill gas when it cannot be sent to the gas-to-energy plant at Winnebago Energy, and
• Currently in final stages of putting final cover on a 15-acre parcel in the South Unit where they believe most of the sulfur-containing waste is located.

The Illinois EPA and U.S. EPA will continue to oversee odor management plans & practices as well as other activities developed and implemented by the landfill companies. As odor-causing materials (sulfur-containing wastes) have been placed in these landfills over the years, on-going decomposition will continue to present possible odor problems. Moving forward, the goal is effective management of existing wastes and prevention of off-site odors.

An odor log form and instructions soon will be mailed to people on our contact list that will enable residents to record the exact date, time, and weather conditions when an odor is detected. The Illinois EPA asks for your assistance in collecting this data that will be compiled and compared to the meteorological data in the area. The data will help determine odor sources and lead to action plans to address problem areas.

Contact

For more information, please contact the Illinois EPA Office of Community Relations. Additional documents not available on this webpage may be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request or through IEPA Document Explorer.