{"id":19892,"date":"2024-11-30T19:03:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T19:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19892"},"modified":"2024-11-30T19:03:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T19:03:26","slug":"lockdown-diy-linked-to-landfills-noxious-gases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19892","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown DIY linked to landfill's noxious gases"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Walleys Quarry was ordered not to accept any new waste as of Friday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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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. <\/p>\n

Complaints about Walleys Quarry in Silverdale, Staffordshire \u2013 which was ordered to close as of Friday \u2013 increased significantly during and after coronavirus lockdowns.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cOne of the materials that is particularly bad for producing odours and awful emissions is plasterboard,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the theories behind why Walleys Quarry got worse at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThey react with water in the atmosphere, so some of the gases you smell can be quite awful and not very good for our health.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why, on some days when it\u2019s colder and muggy and a bit misty, you can smell it more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr George added: \u201cWith any landfill, you\u2019re putting things into the ground \u2013 and when you put things into the ground, if they can they will start to rot. When they start to rot they\u2019re going to give off gases.\u201d<\/p>\n

She believed Walleys Quarry\u2019s proximity to people\u2019s homes was another major factor in the amount of complaints that arose from its operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a gas that people can smell, they\u2019re going to report it much more than perhaps a pollutant that might go unnoticed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Rebecca<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Rebecca Currie said she did not think the site would ever be closed<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Local resident and campaigner Rebecca Currie said the closure notice served to Walleys Quarry was “absolutely amazing”.<\/p>\n

Her son Matthew has had breathing difficulties after being born prematurely with chronic lung disease, and Ms Currie says the site has made his symptoms worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought this day was going to happen,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe fought and fought for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

She told BBC Midlands Today: \u201cOur community have suffered. We’ve got kids who are really poorly, people have moved homes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

She said a lack of landfill space in the country overall was one of the broader issues that needed addressing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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\u2019s where the problems are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters Walleys Quarry was ordered not to accept any new waste as of Friday 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 \u2013 which was ordered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}