Drivers noticing stronger-than-usual odor around Anchorage landfill - Alaska's News Source

Drivers noticing stronger-than-usual odor around Anchorage landfill

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - We all know that garbage can be smelly but lately some drivers on the Glenn Highway have complained the odor has been particularly strong as they pass the Eagle River exit where the Anchorage landfill is located.

Ian Goodwin, acting operations manager at Solid Waste Services, said the odor could be coming from a variety of sources.

“What people are smelling are odors associated with everything that goes on here at the landfill,” Goodwin said, adding that SWS works constantly to mitigate odors.

Sometimes the smell is from a load of garbage before it’s covered or buried, which Goodwin says happens nightly. But just as often the smell is coming from under the ground.

“It’s like when you put anything in your trash can and it sits there too long it begins to decompose and it puts off gas,” he said.

Landfill gas is about half methane, which Goodwin said has no odor at all, the stinky smell is mostly from rotting organics like food waste and lawn clippings.

Solid Waste Services goes to great lengths to collect the gas before it hits the air. A series of pipes sticking up from the ground are gas collection wells, which Goodwin said number 130 and growing.

“We’ve added 60 gas wells in the last three years, we’ve added millions of dollars worth of construction projects and piping to try and continually capture gas as it’s created and we’re even working on future plans right now to expand that system even more,” he said.

Collected landfill gas is either burned off or sent to a plant that produces electricity for the nearby JBER military base.

Still, some of the gas is likely to hit the air and the smell can be off-putting. SWS Recycling Coordinator Kelli Toth said there are some things citizens can do. Because more trash equals more gas, diverting items, especially organics from the landfill by composting or recycling is likely to reduce the smell.

Copyright 2023 KTUU. All rights reserved.