Buckden Landfill Site

22 reports of malodour received during March.

Our officers undertook an inspection on 20 March to review and discuss the odour control measures currently being employed by the site operator.

We continue to receive weekly updates from the site operator regarding actions they are taking to help prevent, or where that is not possible, to minimise malodours.

On 22 January we issued an Enforcement Notice under Regulation 36 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations. This Notice included actions for:

• Installing temporary capping on cell 18
• Installing additional gas extraction infrastructure in cell 18
• Reducing the leachate level in cell 18.

We undertook inspections of the site on 6 and 13 February to assess compliance against these actions and were able to confirm that they had been completed to the required timescales. The Notice was withdrawn on 16 February as all steps had been complied with.

We received 41 reports of malodour between 22-24 February. Our officer attended Brampton village on the evening of 24 February to undertake an assessment of the malodour and was able to substantiate faint landfill gas odours at several locations along the B1514. This information was shared with the site operator, and they were requested to investigate the cause. The operator found damage to gas extraction ports on wellheads in the operational cell. Temporary repairs were undertaken immediately, and new well heads are to be fitted by 1 March.  

We continue to receive weekly updates from the site operator regarding actions they are taking to help prevent, or where that is not possible, to minimise malodours. Works reported include works to permanently cap areas of temporary capping damaged by the recent storms, installation of additional sacrificial gas extraction, and increased gas extraction rates.  

Our officers were able to substantiate off-site malodours on:

• 27 December 2023
• 4 January 2024
• 16 January 2024
• 17th January 2024

Inspections conducted on 10 and 17 January 2024 have confirmed the current operation cell, cell 18, to be the source of the odours they have substantiated.

During our inspections and following review of information we have received by the operator, we have identified a small number of appropriate measures that could have been taken by the operator to prevent, or where that is not practicable, to minimise the impact of the off-site odour. This has been scored as a breach of the permit on our Compliance assessment report (CAR) forms.

The operator has been supplying regular updates on the actions they are taking on site to rectify the problem, see ‘What has the Operator done?’ for more details.

On 22 January we issued an Enforcement Notice under Regulation 36 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations. This Notice sets out steps the operator needs to take and takes into account actions the operator has told us they are already taking or were/are intending to take. These actions include:

• Installing temporary capping on cell 18
• Installing additional gas extraction infrastructure in cell 18
• Reducing the leachate level in cell 18.

The timescales for these actions are phased, with the last action to be completed by 20 February. We will be liaising with the operator closely to monitor their progress.

We attended Brampton village on the morning of 27 December and were able to substantiate the malodours you have been experiencing. The landfill was closed for the Christmas period however we were able to contact a representative of the site operator, FCC, who attended that afternoon enabling us to undertake an inspection during which we were able to identify the likely sources of this malodour.

FCC and their contractors were on site, 28 December, to investigate further and to take steps to prevent, or where that is not practicable, to minimise the odour.

We have continued to liaise with FCC to monitor the situation and ensure appropriate action is taken.

• Regular assessments of odour to confirm the extent, severity, and source of the odours.  
• Regular inspections of the landfill to assess the sources and underlying causes of the odour and to monitor actions being taken by the operator to address the issue.
• Regular liaison with the site operator. This includes assessing the improvements they are implementing on site to ensure they are, and will, continue to be effective, but also looking at whether they have appropriate management systems in place for their proposed changes to operations.

Findings from all inspections are detailed within our Compliance Assessment Report Forms (CAR). We use our guidance on assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance to score permit breaches in accordance with our Compliance Classification Scheme (CCS).

The risk category and score we give a non-compliance reflects the potential impact it could have if it were not addressed promptly and adequately. The only exception is for non-compliances relating to amenity conditions - odour, dust, noise, and pests. We categorise the risk and score these according to their actual (rather than potential) impact. Further details on this can be found in our Frequently Asked Questions.

Copies of our Compliance Assessment Forms forms will be available on the public register 28 days after they are issued to the operator, a period given to them to challenge the content within the report. If they choose to challenge our report this will delay the release. Once a CAR is available on the public register, we will also provide copies on this page.

Actions they have taken to tackle to source of the odours include:

• Work to reduce the likelihood of emissions from around the leachate wells in cell 18
• Increased gas extraction from the leachate wells
• Clay material placed across the uncapped area between the leachate wells
• Installed additional horizontal gas extraction in cell 18
• Additional pumping to divert water away from cell 18
• Daily balancing and monitoring of gas infrastructure within cell 18
• Placement of additional clay cell 18

Providing the operator uses appropriate measures to prevent, or where not practical, minimise off site odour annoyance, they will not breach their permit. The landfilling of waste by its very nature is an odorous activity and therefore will generate periodic odours that can be associated with changing weather conditions; however, this should not be a sustained event.

The odours experienced by residents, and the odours substantiated by our officers, are not acceptable. We have identified sources of the odour on the landfill, and identified additional measures the operator could have taken, these are being identified in our CAR forms as breaches of the Environmental Permit.

The scores associated with these breaches of the permit will lead to an increased subsistence charge for the site and is based on the polluter pays principle.

Our legal team is reviewing evidence collected during our investigations ahead of a decision on the most appropriate enforcement response.

We log all calls even though we may not be able to send an officer out to the site.

Reports are passed to the operator to start investigations; personal data is never supplied on these reports. Depending on the circumstances we will also attend to assess the odour and identify any potential sources. Whilst we cannot look at all reports immediately, prompt reporting ensures that we are able to target our site visits appropriately and provides us the best chance of identifying any potential source and associated actions. 

Your reports provide valuable data on the nature and scale of the problem, and we appreciate the effort you take in passing them to us.