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New Jersey County Fights Landfill Odors Using Fragrant Spray Trucks

Not to be outdone by the Chinese and their deodorant guns, Middlesex County, New Jersey has unveiled their secret weapon against landfill stink, a perfume spraying truck. The flatbed truck equipped with special nozzles now drives around the 200-plus acre landfill spraying hundreds of gallons of a soapy, slightly citrus-scented liquid. From the article: "'It has a pleasant, showery smell,' said Richard Fitamant, executive director of the Middlesex County Utilities Authority, which runs the landfill. 'It's not offensive and it's not overpowering. It's a light scent.' Faced with a competing mandate to handle the loads of trash while curbing the stench, officials have turned to the roving, over-sized air freshener to control the smells wafting from the 200-plus acre landfill."

73 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Old spice missed an opportunity... by kenrblan · · Score: 3, Funny

    Look at your landfill, now look back at me...

    --
    Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Old spice missed an opportunity... by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      Reminds me of Monsters Inc...

      Mike: Can I borrow your odorant?

      Sulley: Yeah, I got, uh, Smelly Garbage or Old Dumpster.

      Mike: You got, uh, Low Tide?

      Sulley: No.

      Mike: How about Wet Dog?

      Sulley: Yep. Stink it up.

    2. Re:Old spice missed an opportunity... by pinkushun · · Score: 1

      giving the landfill a French Bath. How charming!

  2. Nice by Improv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Instead of consuming and throwing away less and living sustainably, our future is Febreze. If only that were a solution to the floating garbage island in the pacific.

    --
    For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
    1. Re:Nice by couchslug · · Score: 1

      " If only that were a solution to the floating garbage island in the pacific."

      No need to worry. Rush Limbaugh said "the Earth will heal itself."

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    2. Re:Nice by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Informative

      Good idea, burning is good. There used to be a waste-to-energy place about 40km from my home. Nimbyists successfully managed to get it shut down, it used to provide power to the city, hot water to all the nearby hospitals(4 of them), steam for those hospitals for various uses. And in the end it worked really well.

      I blame enviromentalists and idiots. Both were at fault for it, now it sits there. Of course, if one remember the other day with the 'smart recycling bins' in a lot of places recycling material is simply thrown out with the trash anyway by the municipalities.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    3. Re:Nice by mr_mischief · · Score: 1

      There's a good chance he's right. Unfortunately, since we keep adding to the problem, humans just might have to be eliminated for that to work.

    4. Re:Nice by RichiH · · Score: 1

      Your sig fits the topic at hand and your comment wonderfully.

    5. Re:Nice by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      Well, we could always go the Futurama route, and just launch a gigantic garbage ball into space, and forget about it for a thousand years or so...

    6. Re:Nice by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      I'll bet that you'd have felt a lot different about it if you were downwind from it. While it might seem like a good idea, trash-to-steam is actually a fairly expensive way to create power, and can produce a lot of really toxic waste. Of course every generation of the plant gets a little better, chances are that your 'nearby' plant was older and less efficient.

      Not really no. I've lived in some massively shitty places, before. I can also recognize when something benefits me and the community. Considering I was very hopeful when they were going to build a medical waste incinerator here, that would generate power and create somewhere around 400 jobs. Of course nimbyists and environmentalists killed that one too. Well considering steam is generally what is used in most power plants to generate power, that's kinda moot isn't it? It's not hard to pipe some off for nearby buildings so close you could hit all 4 with a rock.

      The reality is, you're incorrect. Now you tell me, which one is worse. Trucking garbage 150+km(at the time) to toss into a landfill where it will rot away. Or burning it in a ewr, where the remains become the size of a 40gal barrel.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
  3. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by blackraven14250 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There's no way the stink is worse than the trash. I live fairly close, and in the whole neighborhood nearby, if the wind is wrong during the summer, it's a fucking nightmare.

  4. Just more odor by crow · · Score: 1, Redundant

    So instead of doing something to actually reduce the odor, they try to mask it by adding yet more smells.

    1. Re:Just more odor by swanzilla · · Score: 4, Funny

      Since it is Jersey, there is a more than decent chance that it will smell like Axe body spray.

  5. Fragrant Spray Trucks by dmomo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nice. I hope the spray is also fragrant.

  6. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by eln · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, it would be a shame if this stuff ended up ruining the fragile ecosystem of the landfill.

  7. I have the solution by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

    Just move those assholes from the show "Jersey Shore" away from Jersey. Problem solved.

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    1. Re:I have the solution by blackraven14250 · · Score: 1

      They're over an hour from East Brunswick, so unfortunately, that isn't the source of this particular stench.

  8. What a surprise by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Instead of dealing with a pollution problem by attenuating or removing it at its source, a new source of pollution is added, an additional detoxification load on local residents' livers and kidneys. Why do we have so much cancer, asthma, and many other pollution-related diseases? Can it be that it is an utterly stupid idea to add more contaminants to our environment rather than zealously trying to reduce them? How scalable is this? Will we add more airborne chemicals to the home, the workplace, our cars, and everywhere else there is an unpleasant odor? Do people think these things are innocuous just because nobody falls down dead right away?

  9. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by bcmm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You'll still be able to smell the trash, you'll just be able to smell the other stuff as well now.

    --
    # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
    Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
  10. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by KiloByte · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'd like to invite you to drive the Tricity Beltway near Szadólki. If you have your windows closed, a well-hermetic car, an air refresher and have a cold, you may survive. That smell is so rancid that any concerns for the environment will go away the moment you take a whiff.

    Of course, they could have placed that landfill away from housing and from the road that greets almost every visitor to Gdansk, sparing them such a grand welcome.

    OT: screw you /. for that great Unicode support.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  11. New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by RobinEggs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'd like to know how much of this trash comes from New Jersey and how much comes from New York City.

    NYC handles little of its trash in the city, a minority of it in New York state, and otherwise sends it all into New Jersey, on barges and rail cars to Tennessee and Virginia, etc. Pretty much every sanitation policy of NYC constitutes a fiscal and environmental disaster. New Jersey may be wasteful and rude as well, for all I know, but I'm betting the majority of the extra trash comes from New York. This problem just might disappear if New York were to construct a few of the (profoundly environmentally friendly and electricity producing) new models of incinerator or build landfills in their own damn state. I'm not from any state discussed in my rant, by the way; I just think New York is an all-consuming, wasteful jerk of a city.

    1. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

      Well, it's not as if New York is catapulting it's garbage into New Jersey. There's a financial compensation that New Jersey's comfortable with. Otherwise, they'd say to just move along.

      --
      Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
    2. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

      Well, it's not as if New York is catapulting it's garbage into New Jersey. There's a financial compensation that New Jersey's comfortable with. Otherwise, they'd say to just move along.

      You're mostly right, of course, although I'd argue two minor but significant points: one, it's beholden upon everyone to reduce consumption, for national fiscal survival if not for environmental reasons, and New York compounds their ridiculous over-consumption via the extra energy costs of all this poor planning and shipping trash up and down the eastern seaboard. It's waste upon waste, bad money after bad, that anyone with even a trace of environmentalism or frugality in their blood can and should ridicule freely.

      Second, while someone in New Jersey, including probably the governor's office, feels it's profitable to accept trash from NYC I highly doubt the immediate neighbors of these landfills are the parties getting that profit. I doubt the governor or any waste-management magnates live within a mile of a mega-ton landfill, downwind of the horrendous stench, in which the great state of New Jersey and it's businesses are harshly abusing their own citizens and customers.

    3. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      There's a financial compensation that New Jersey's comfortable with. Otherwise, they'd say to just move along.

      It's not that easy to say "Move along". Virginia has tried to stop/stem the inflow of out-of-state garbage but was forbidden to do so by the federal government. States no longer have any right to refuse refuse from being dumped into their state! I can't imagine that the founding fathers ever envisioned the Commerce Clause being used to force interstate commerce.

      From this article:
      "Virginia tried to ban garbage shipments by barge and cap the capacity of the state's seven giant private landfills at 1998 levels. All these state laws have been struck down by higher courts. The U.S. Congress has the power to act. Federal judges have consistently ruled that based on the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, Congress has exclusive power over the interstate trash business."

      http://virginia.sierraclub.org/issues/recycling-solid-waste.html

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    4. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      It's not that easy to say "Move along". Virginia has tried to stop/stem the inflow of out-of-state garbage but was forbidden to do so by the federal government. States no longer have any right to refuse refuse from being dumped into their state! I can't imagine that the founding fathers ever envisioned the Commerce Clause being used to force interstate commerce.

      Way to spin it, jackass.

      The problem is that these states have privatized their landfill business in the first place. They then, understandably, have no right to prevent those businesses from striking up deals with other states, as that would be an unlawful restraint of trade.

      Frankly, if they don't like this, they should take back control of their landfills. As it stands, though, they've made their bed, and now they get to lie in it.

    5. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      What do you mean "spin it"? I live in Virginia. I don't want my state being NY/NJ's dumping ground (or any other state's, for that matter). My state government listened to us voters and attempted to limit out of state waste. They were overruled by the Federal Government saying we had to accept out of state waste. MY state can be forced to take another state's waste?

      Every college/university I know of can charge out-of-state students a lot more than in state - why is that legal? Why can't VA charge in-state dumpers $10/ton and out-of-state dumpers $1,000/ton?

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    6. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      What do you mean "spin it"?

      I mean you're blaming the federal government, and the laws of the land, for a problem the state created for itself by handing over waste management to private firms. It was their choice, and they get to live with it now.

      Every college/university I know of can charge out-of-state students a lot more than in state - why is that legal?

      Who said it was legal? Heck, it probably isn't. But unless a large, monied interest challenges the law (ie, the exact opposite of your average student), it'll stay on the books.

      Again, hand over power to corporations, and this is the kinda shit you're gonna get. *shrug*

    7. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      States can ban the importation of anything they want to from other states (like fruit into California, etc) if they consider it dangerous, or if they just don't want it (try selling handguns across state lines to people in Chicago). I would posit that imported MSW (municipal solid waste) is _much_ more of a hazard to the health of millions of citizens that get their water from the rivers around those landfills. Virginia should have the right to limit the influx of toxic garbage into the state, plain and simple.

      Virginia businesses cannot buy alcohol from out of state; they must buy it from the state stores. How is that legal?

      For that matter, since Virginia is the only state that still outlaws radar detectors, do you think other states can sell and ship them to VA residents? They can't. States can and do regulate commerce between entities with the state and entities outside the state all the time.

      If you want to see a massive list of no-no shipments, go to the Cheaper Than Dirt site and look at the huge list of shipping restrictions.

      The issue is the massive waste lobby - can you say **$$cough$#@ MOB $$$# cough#$(#$ ?

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    8. Re:New York's Problem Becomes New Jersey's? by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      States can ban the importation of anything they want to from other states (like fruit into California, etc) if they consider it dangerous

      Sorry, that argument ain't gonna fly. If they're willing to throw their own garbage in a landfill, they can't argue that someone else's garbage is unsafe.

      States can and do regulate commerce between entities with the state and entities outside the state all the time.

      Clearly this power is not universal. Here's a good article that covers a wide variety of causes where state laws were struck down as unlawful based on the interstate commerce clause.

      Incidentally, here's what appears to be the first case regarding garbage importation: PHILADELPHIA v. NEW JERSEY.

      And to your first point, apparently the majority opinion agrees with me:

      The New Jersey statute is not such a quarantine law. There has been no claim here that the very movement of waste into or through New Jersey endangers health, or that waste must be disposed of as soon and as close to its point of generation as possible. The harms caused by waste are said to arise after its disposal in landfill sites, and at that point, as New Jersey concedes, there is no basis to distinguish out-of-state waste from domestic waste. If one is inherently harmful, so is the other. Yet New Jersey has banned the former while leaving its landfill sites open to the latter.

      Virginia businesses cannot buy alcohol from out of state; they must buy it from the state stores. How is that legal?

      Ultimately, it comes down to, to quote the aforementioned case:

      whether ch. 363 is basically a protectionist measure, or whether it can fairly be viewed as a law directed to legitimate local concerns, with effects upon interstate commerce that are only incidental.

      Now, without reading the laws which control the sale of liquor, I can't speak to why those laws are upheld as legal. It may be that regulating the importation of alcohol, period, is held up as legal because there is a legitimate public safety concern. But I'm guessing at this point.

      The real point is that, fundamentally, whether or not such statutes are legal varies on a case-by-case basis.

  12. Queue Jersey Jokes by drkoemans · · Score: 1

    In 3... 2...

  13. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by dziban303 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think New Jersey is probably the butt of more jokes than Poland. Now even more so.

  14. Why stop there? by dgun · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why not the whole state?

    --
    FAQs are evil.
    1. Re:Why stop there? by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

      and an extra dose for that ooompa-loompa snookie's rancid crotch.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    2. Re:Why stop there? by Muad'Dave · · Score: 1

      Funny you say should that - maybe they could use some of the landfill funk to spray on the evergreen trees along NJ highways. They actually have signs that read "Evergreen trees treated with noxious spray" to keep people from cutting them down for Christmas trees. Unbelievable.

      http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/24/nyregion/the-great-outdoors-a-dose-of-smelly-chemicals-keeps-tree-poachers-away.html

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
  15. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    Doing this is possibly a violation of Federal law:

    AIR FRESHENERS CAN BE AIR POLLUTERS

    Asthma and allergy rates are on the rise and many people are concerned about air pollutants. Some people are adding potent chemicals to the air they breathe without even realizing it. As Dr. Dean Edell comments, "Breathe in, breathe out. What you're supposed to breathe is plain ole fresh air, not pollution - but not perfume either. So why do so many of us turn to air fresheners to freshen what is already fresh? Lots of folks put them in their kitchen, in the bath, and all over the house. Many even put them in their cars."

    The UC Berkeley Wellness Letter asked a critical question. Do these air fresheners really do anything? And more importantly, are they good for your health? "Depending on the brand, fresheners can release camphor, alcohol, limonene, and other substances which might be harmful when vaporized and breathed. Some products contain more toxic chemicals like paradichlorobenzene - also used as a moth repellent - which is now so common it turns up in trace amounts in almost all blood samples. But the real potential for harm is to people with asthma and other breathing problems."

    LEGAL HISTORY

    The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1992 guarantees disabled individuals access to institutions, such as government agencies, libraries, doctors' offices, retail stores, and many other places. The Social Security Administration and HUD recognize Multiple Chemical Sensitivity/Environmental Illness as a disability. Fragrances are a "barrier to access" since breathing can be affected. Breathing is a "major life activity" as defined by the ADA. Fragrance bans meet the "reasonable accommodation" clause of the ADA, since elimination and substitution are not expensive.

    Source: It's Not the Smell, It's the Chemical, a brochure from the Mendocino County Working on Wellness program

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  16. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by icebike · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Someone is sure to object on those grounds...

    But seriously, where does landfill stink come from, and why do they all small pretty much the same?
    Land fills smell nothing like a dumpster full of garbage. So you can't blame it only on the garbage content.

    Wouldn't it be better to find the the problem and fix that instead of covering it up?

      One wonders if the stink is a necessary outcome of the landfill process or just a byproduct that is not well understood. With sealed landfills, some states mandate gas extraction as part of the sealing process. There are something like 425 Land Fill Gas To Energy (yeah, I know, TreeHugger, cut me some slack ok?) projects in the US accounting for 1,180 megawatts of power.

    Not a great deal, but it would seem a better solution than spraying it and hoping no one will notice the stink.

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  17. lol by Charliemopps · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Rotting food is not pollution. The problem isn't the smell, the problem is the number of people moving in closer and closer to the landfill. Wow! this house is only $150k! Whats that smell?!? We should complain!! Darn landfills making me not want to live in my cheap house that's right by the landfill!!! Our city has a rather large landfill... rather than put housing next to it, they turned the 300+ acres surrounding it into an arboretum. The trees don't mind the smell at all.

    1. Re:lol by compro01 · · Score: 1

      Much the same here. The local landfill is surrounded by farmland and industrial zones. While the major highway is nearby, it's opposite the prevailing winds and thus isn't a problem.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
  18. HBO and MTV don't accurately portray the state by perpenso · · Score: 4, Informative

    Why not the whole state?

    Because a lot of the state is actually quite nice. Woods, rivers, lakes, trails, beaches ... Small/medium sized towns and suburbs filled with trees or on the coast ... The run down industrial areas that you see on the Sopranos and the tourist oriented areas you see on Jersey Shore are the exceptions, not the rule. There are lots of jokes about the industrial and tourist areas, many from New Jersey residents, but there are also some pretty nice areas that ex-presidents retire to, executives working out of NYC live in, etc. There are also a lot of nice places for middle class budgets.

    1. Re:HBO and MTV don't accurately portray the state by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Yeah, mod this guy up.

      When traveling to New Jersey, I was pleasantly surprised ... once I got past the industrial wastelands facing towards New York on the opposite side of the river/bay, and continued heading southwards. And as you suggest, I also didn't go as far to the south as Atlantic City and other tourist-infested areas.

      It was particularly beautiful in the Pine Barrens. Trust me, it's nice. I was traveling from Canada, and we have pretty high standards when it comes to beautiful forests.

  19. Easier by Badbone · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I know this is idle, but there is a serious and easy way to take care of this problem. Mushrooms.

    Dose the it with liquid mushroom culture, and next year the pile will not only smell better, it will be smaller. Everybody wins.

    --
    It can be go tiem now plees?
  20. Stinks by MarkRose · · Score: 4, Funny

    My girlfriend told me to kiss her where it stinks, so I took her to New Jersey.

    --
    Be relentless!
  21. Hey, alright! by The+Wild+Norseman · · Score: 2, Funny

    The flatbed truck equipped with special nozzles now drives around the 200-plus acre landfill spraying hundreds of gallons of a soapy, slightly citrus-scented liquid.

    I bet Kim Kardashian's pretty excited that there's finally a use for her new perfume.

    --
    "A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
    1. Re:Hey, alright! by couchslug · · Score: 1

      "I bet Kim Kardashian's pretty excited that there's finally a use for her new perfume."

      Summer's Eve makes perfume?

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  22. WTF, the Navy fliss planes at night? by perpenso · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Rotting food is not pollution. The problem isn't the smell, the problem is the number of people moving in closer and closer to the landfill. Wow! this house is only $150k! Whats that smell?!? We should complain!! Darn landfills making me not want to live in my cheap house that's right by the landfill!!!

    I've seen similar issues in California. Homes gets nearer and nearer to Air Force and Navy bases and then the new residents complain about planes flying around at 3am. The Air Force and Navy bases were explicitly acknowledged in their signed disclosures but people have literally been quoted in the newspapers saying things like: I knew about the base but I never imagined they would be flying around in the middle of the night.

    1. Re:WTF, the Navy fliss planes at night? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      They are told to sign here and initial there, all the while being rushed through the process and told "you don't need to read that", "almost done!", or "only 10 more initials". By the time the befuddled couple has left the real estate office with the keys in their hands they don't know what the fuck they just signed.

      Fuck them. People signing shit without understanding it is always a gigantic failure, and it's how we got more and more legalese. If people just stopped signing shit, and instead started killing all the lawyers like punsters have been discussing probably as long as they have existed, we wouldn't be here today.

      These are the same people who are now underwater on their mortgages and begging you, their fellow taxpayer (who didn't go out like a dumbass and overpay for a house), to bail them out.

      I think most people knew what they were getting into, except they still thought America was great and therefore they could get somewhere with their scheme. Only a few chowderheads didn't know they were helping to build a pyramid. It's the same problem though as punishment of crimes not deterring crime: people don't think it can happen to them.

      It is time and past time to stop rewarding stupidity in this country and start making some tough examples, "predatory" loans be damned (notice how everyone who fucked up wants to blame anyone but themselves for their crappy loan).

      I agree, although I'm not sure who is served if families end up on the street.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  23. This is what ahppens by geekoid · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When there are services people expect to maintain civilization, but bitch whenever they are asked to pay for it.
    But no, people don't want to pay for it. That want to 'cut fat' and lower taxes and get more service.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:This is what ahppens by Xyrus · · Score: 1

      Doing the smart/correct thing costs too much, so we will do the stupid/wrong thing until we can't do that anymore. By that time, doing the correct/smart thing from the start could have paid for itself but now will cost twice as much.

      Sustainability. We've got to snap out of this daydream where we think we can just keep expanding and consuming. We can't, and probably within the next century or two we're going to learn the hard way that we can't. Continuing to ignore the issues like the Continent of Trash in the Pacific or trying to bury them under a metric assload of perfume like these clowns isn't doing anyone any favors.

      Maybe there should be another sanitation strike so that people can see exactly how much trash they produce.

      --
      ~X~
  24. And for the next step by Dunbal · · Score: 1

    Perhaps in a decade or so they will further imitate Europe in the middle ages and begin bathing and washing the refuse before burying it...

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  25. They're not "special" by handy_vandal · · Score: 5, Informative

    "The flatbed truck equipped with special nozzles ..."

    Hello -- "special" troll here with a special alert.

    This perfume-dispensing nozzle is not special. It does what every other nozzle does: nozzle stuff. Nothing "special" about it.

    If what you really mean is "I'm super-impressed by this nozzle, because it's doing nozzle stuff I've never dreamed of before," then say that instead.

    Thank you for your cooperation.

    --
    -kgj
    1. Re:They're not "special" by Psaakyrn · · Score: 1

      And probably made in China too! Like those they used in China!

    2. Re:They're not "special" by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Hello -- "special" troll here with a special alert.

      This perfume-dispensing nozzle is not special. It does what every other nozzle does: nozzle stuff. Nothing "special" about it.

      Yes, but your average perfume nozzle is on a vessel significantly smaller then a tanker truck.

      That alone makes it unusual, probably purpose made or modified so it can be re-purposed. Which in a way makes it special.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  26. "Fixing" things is now too expensive by copponex · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If near term cost is the only concern, all you do is create more problems. They could build a geodesic dome over the land fill, and burn the methane and turn that smell into energy, but that would require investment.. They could start separating the trash and recycling, while keeping biological waste in compost heaps that reduce the smell, but that would require investment.

    America is basically like a 7-11 that's about to go under. The shelves are barely stocked, the sign has been broken for months, and nobody really gives a shit because they've been watching the boss raid the cash drawer for years.

    1. Re:"Fixing" things is now too expensive by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 1

      America is basically like a 7-11 that's about to go under. The shelves are barely stocked, the sign has been broken for months, and nobody really gives a shit because they've been watching the boss raid the cash drawer for years.

      A truly disturbing metaphor.

    2. Re:"Fixing" things is now too expensive by Nethead · · Score: 1

      and immigrants are the only people working.

      --
      -- I have a private email server in my basement.
    3. Re:"Fixing" things is now too expensive by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      A geodesic dome would not be very efficient. SOP is just to use a UV-stable plastic tent. Quonset huts would be somewhere in the middle though, requiring less materials.

      America is basically like a 7-11 that's about to go under. The shelves are barely stocked, the sign has been broken for months, and nobody really gives a shit because they've been watching the boss raid the cash drawer for years.

      Vehement agreemsg.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  27. Take it where it is needed the most by wholestrawpenny · · Score: 1

    Head west, and start circling Washington, D.C.

  28. I think they are going to need more trucks by byteherder · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    This is New Jersey, right?

    Shouldn't the truck be driving around the whole state. :-)

  29. Tactical Fabreeze bomb by LostAlaska · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They just need to carpet bomb the dump with Fabreeze bombs!

  30. Not new by dave562 · · Score: 1

    One of my clients was in the waste management business. They had stationary misting nozzles that did the same thing that this truck is doing in Jersey.

    The coolest thing they had was a hawk to chase away the gulls. Almost as cool as sharks with laser beams... almost.

  31. it's not trash that smells, it's garbage by SuperBanana · · Score: 1

    Instead of consuming and throwing away less and living sustainably, our future is Febreze.

    It's not trash that smells, it's garbage (ie, food that's been thrown out.) If people had garbage disposals and compost piles, you're right, it wouldn't be a problem.

    1. Re:it's not trash that smells, it's garbage by Abcd1234 · · Score: 1

      If people had garbage disposals...

      Wait, 'cuz its better to grind up our garbage and dump it into our graywater, instead of a land fill?

  32. Stay classy, Middlesex by johngineer · · Score: 1

    The smell of a million decomposing Rutgers parking tickets...

  33. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by tpgp · · Score: 1

    Land fills smell nothing like a dumpster full of garbage. So you can't blame it only on the garbage content.

    Perhaps there's a difference between a dumpster full of garbage and landfill site you haven't considered... like the length of time the garbage has been rotting.

    --
    My pics.
  34. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by riT-k0MA · · Score: 1

    "...So why do so many of us turn to air fresheners to freshen what is already fresh?..."
    The air is not fresh. Somehow I think you have no freaking clue as to how bad a landfill smells. I still remember how bad the fieldtrip to a landfill site we were forced to take as part of "environmental studies" was. x_x

  35. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by jamesh · · Score: 1

    If they've thought it through they'll put the chemicals in there like in normal household deodorizers that numb your nose so you can't smell anything anymore.

  36. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    The air is not fresh. Somehow I think you have no freaking clue as to how bad a landfill smells.

    Sometimes? As in, you read my posts often, and you occasionally think I have no clue how bad a landfill smells?

    I used to live near a landfill in Marysville, and I sometimes make a dump run to the local one in Clearlake.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  37. Kiss her where it smells... by CeruleanDragon · · Score: 1

    "Kiss her where it smells, take her to New Jersey!" - George Carlin

    I'm sure George would've had some very snarky and funny to say about this one... maybe "too little, too late" or "why didn't they think of this years ago?"

    R.I.P. George Carlin

    --
    ad astra per alia porci
  38. What abut the eco system... by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    This stuff leaches into the ground, anyone know what it will do to contaminate the eco-system, and what about air borne stuff, does it contain anything that is not good when it comes to air borne environment. We had something to say about spray cans and hairspray etc.... now we have full fledged trucks doing it, I hope we are not using the same technique as spray cans???

  39. Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash by SleazyRidr · · Score: 1

    My mother once gave me a spray to use in my bathroom after I'd used the toilet. I thought that the smell I'd made was nicer than the spray.

  40. Special is a matter of context, I suppose by handy_vandal · · Score: 1

    You may be on to something here. And you've given me an idea.

    How about taking one of those high-pressure water-spray trucks -- the kind that The Man uses to wash away street riots -- and filling the tank with perfume. The nozzle on that device might qualify as a truly special nozzle. And if not ... at least the riot will smell nice.

    --
    -kgj
    1. Re:Special is a matter of context, I suppose by mjwx · · Score: 1

      That may be quite useful in Europe where rioters have a serious aversion to bathing.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  41. Great.. by xmvince · · Score: 1

    So we fight one type of contamination with another? Doesn't that mean it will be TWICE as worse than if we just ignored the initial problem!