By Julia Train
Absecon residents showed up to a town hall meeting with the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) to express their anger regarding the landfill’s odors invading their homes for over a month on Thursday, Jan.12.
City Council President Nick LaRotonda reached out to ACUA President Matt DeNafo, asking him to attend the meeting and explain how the site works, discuss what they’re doing to resolve the problem and answer questions citizens have.
“The ACUA’s history has always been as transparent as possible and open to the public, so I kind of jumped at the opportunity to be there even though it probably wasn’t going to be the most pleasant experience,” said DeNafo, who has held his position for seven months, but has been with the ACUA for over 16 years.
The ACUA facility on Delilah Rd. in Egg Harbor Township has been handling the trash for roughly 275,000 people in Atlantic County since 1992.
The facility as a whole is 365 acres, with the landfill taking up 102.
“We’re dealing with 32 years of trash, over 110 feet deep over 102 acres,” DeNafo said.
As trash decomposes at the landfill, gas is created… and it smells. DeNafo added the weather over the past few months hasn’t helped, saying rain and warm weather exacerbates the odor.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, landfill gas “is composed of roughly 50 percent methane (the primary component of natural gas), 50 percent carbon dioxide (CO2) and a small amount of non-methane organic compounds.”
That small amount of non-methane organic compounds is made of nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, sulfides, hydrogen and various other gases.
The gas that produces the smell which Absecon residents are upset about is hydrogen sulfide, which has the foul smell of rotten eggs.
The ACUA uses gas control collection systems– an infrastructure made of vacuum systems, blowers, flares, miles of pipeline and vertical wells– to convert it into renewable natural gas.
The vertical wells have a diameter of 100 feet and feature a 6-inch perforated pipe drilled into the trash, which can be anywhere from 65 to 110 feet deep.
A vacuum is then put on top and pulls the gas to keep it from escaping so that it can either be flared off or used for renewable natural gas or electricity.
More than 115 of these wells, which are imperative in collecting gas, will be in the landfill by the end of the month, DeNafo said.
In December, the ACUA planned to install 15 new gas wells. As of the day of the meeting, 14 wells had been installed and 13 were connected to the system.
Six additional wells are also currently being installed, totaling 21 wells set for the end of this month, which DeNafo hopes will significantly improve the odor in the coming weeks.
He also said the ACUA will continue to monitor the air and remain in contact with City Council and residents.
The ACUA has a Landfill Odor Control section on its website, providing information on what it has done and continues to do in order to minimize and prevent the smell. There’s also a section to field complaints.
However, instead of hopping online, citizens were able to meet face-to-face at City Hall to air their grievances.
DeNafo spent the first 20 minutes of the meeting explaining the ACUA’s landfill process and plan to reduce the stench. When he finished, the locals who attended were invited up to the microphone to ask DeNafo their questions regarding the situation.
Absecon home-owner Tony Kucharski was first to speak, taking up about 30 minutes to express his thoughts and experience, which he insisted was “what everyone else was thinking.”
When gently interrupted five minutes in by LaRotonda, his fellow natives, who were standing in a line behind Kucharski, remained supportive of what he was saying, urging him to continue.
In addition to Kucharski, several Absecon residents mentioned that the odors have settled into their homes, garages, vehicles and more, even hours after the ACUA workers finished spreading and capping for the day.
Kucharski mentioned various symptoms he’s been experiencing, which include headaches, nausea and burning eyes among others that are known to occur after short-term exposure to elevated levels of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, according to New York State’s Department of Health.
Kucharski said he’s done everything he can to avoid moving from his home, even though he said it has been “absolute torture.” He’s been living about 2 miles from the landfill on Yarmouth Avenue in Absecon for roughly 20 years.
During his, albeit lengthy, but relatable to Absecon citizens, recollection of his experience, Kucharski was interrupted a few times with rebuttals from ACUA solid waste division Vice President Gary Conover, which led the two to go back and forth.
While Conover, who also resides in Absecon, said he wasn’t experiencing this problem, DeNafo from Waterford Township empathized.
“We’re meeting all the requirements, but that doesn’t mean you’re not experiencing this,” he said.
DeNafo added that the gas developed a lot quicker in a larger volume than anticipated and stated he was there to help.
“These gases aren’t dispersing as much, as you mentioned. I’m glad you’re aware of that,” said Kucharski, 58. “The gases settle and collect here in town at suffocating levels, especially in the evening and morning hours.”
He added that even the workers at the landfill have to deal with the odor, “but they can wear respirators.”
Kucharski concluded his time at the microphone by requesting that city representatives have 24/7 access to the ACUA.
“Take us on a tour and answer our questions and requests,” he said.
Over the course of the meeting that lasted about 2.5 hours, residents acknowledged that a state as densely populated as New Jersey doesn’t really have a proper place to put a landfill without affecting homeowners.
Although tense at times, DeNafo said it went well, with attendees going up to him afterward, thanking him for listening to their concerns.
