Melville ming a thing of the past

A persistent pong plaguing residents near a Fife rubbish dump appears to have been snuffed out.

The Melville ming emanated from the Lower Melville Wood landfill site, near Ladybank.

However, following an absence of complaints during April and May, it looks like work to address the problem has worked.

The landfill site’s excellent compliance rating was downgraded to poor, which environment agency Sepa confirmed constituted a breach of the site permit held by Resource Efficient Solutions, an arms-length company of Fife Council.

North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie said: “It looks like the measures to tackle the problem at Lower Melville Wood are working.

“You can smell the difference at long last. Long-suffering local residents want to make sure the intolerable situation is not repeated.

“I want to thank Resource Efficient Solutions, the council and Sepa for their work and residents for their patience.”

Action taken by Resource Efficient Solutions included sealing flanks of the operational landfill cell with plastic membrane.

Chris Ewing, chief operating officer, said: “We are pleased that actions that we have taken have had a beneficial impact in reducing odour emissions and once more apologise to those householders who have experienced odour nuisance.”