Lockdown DIY linked to landfill's noxious gases

A chemist and former senior lecturer in environmental sustainability has said powerful odours from a controversial landfill site may be linked to people doing more DIY during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Complaints about Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Staffordshire – which was ordered to close as of Friday – increased significantly during and after coronavirus lockdowns.

Issuing the closure notice, the Environment Agency described management of the site as poor, adding it had exhausted all other enforcement tactics at premises where gases had been noxious and periodically above emission level guidelines - which some campaigners linked to ill health locally.

Dr Sharon George, who used to teach at Keele University, said she had been to the site with students and found it to be clean and well-managed, and suggested an increase in plasterboard heading to landfills in 2020 could be behind a spike in stenches.

“One of the materials that is particularly bad for producing odours and awful emissions is plasterboard," she said.

“That’s one of the theories behind why Walleys Quarry got worse at that time.”

She said the landfill was in a low-lying area, and that some of the gases that came from the site were quite heavy.

“They react with water in the atmosphere, so some of the gases you smell can be quite awful and not very good for our health.

“It’s why, on some days when it’s colder and muggy and a bit misty, you can smell it more.”

Dr George added: “With any landfill, you’re putting things into the ground – and when you put things into the ground, if they can they will start to rot. When they start to rot they’re going to give off gases.”

She believed Walleys Quarry’s proximity to people’s homes was another major factor in the amount of complaints that arose from its operation.

“If you’ve got a gas that people can smell, they’re going to report it much more than perhaps a pollutant that might go unnoticed.”

Complaints about Walleys Quarry to Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council exceeded 700 in November, the highest amount since 2021 according to council leader Simon Tagg.

The Environment Agency (EA), which is responsible for regulating landfill sites, said it had concluded further operation at the site could result in "significant long-term pollution".

A spokesperson for Walley's Quarry Ltd said the firm rejected the EA's accusations of poor management, and would be challenging the closure notice.

Dr George said she believed the EA was likely to be erring on the side of caution and public safety, adding safety standards were strict.

She said a lack of landfill space in the country overall was one of the broader issues that needed addressing.

“As people, we just keep using stuff and then have nowhere to put it, and then when we end up putting it in places like Walleys Quarry that is next to houses, I think that’s where the problems are.”