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."

Comments

What a surprise

[Un pobre guey]

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?

Re:Just more odor

[swanzilla]

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

Why stop there?

[dgun]

Why not the whole state?

Re:Smells fresh, but probably worse than trash

[drinkypoo]

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

HBO and MTV don't accurately portray the state

[perpenso]

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.

Stinks

[MarkRose]

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

They're not "special"

[handy_vandal]

"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.

"Fixing" things is now too expensive

[copponex]

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.