Trash agency asked to curb smell
Odor complaints about the existing Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency composting program that takes in 2,500 tons per year of food waste has town officials ready to fight efforts to expand the program’s rise to 30,000 tons annually.
The concerns were raised during an agency video conference meeting Monday, with town Supervisor James Quigley noting the smell of decaying organic material needs to stop affecting people who live and work near the facility that is along U.S. Route 199.
“During the time of operations by the RRA of the mulch pile, the town supervisor’s office has been deluged by complaints,” he said.
“The town has handled complaints ranging from the (state) Bridge Authority all the way up to the residents up in Whittier on the north side extending over to the northern sections of Ulster Landing Road by the intersection of Kukuk Lane and all the way south on Ulster Landing Road to almost Park Road, where it goes down to the town’s park,” Quigley said. “This is quite a large area for the dissemination of a smell that originates with the composting operations every time the piles are turned.”
Agency officials began composting in 2012 under a permit that initially allowed 500 tons of food waste per year to be disposed of in a 40-by-100foot area. That is expected to be expanded to a 200-by200-foot area on the south side of the current administration building as part of a long-term management plan that is seeking a 50 to 70 percent reduction in the solid waste taken to landfills by removing the food waste.
Efforts toward the composting expansion included purchases a year ago of $279,950 for a screener, with most of the cost covered by a $156,000 grant from Ulster County and a $57,975 grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Another $219,000 was used to buy a used radial stacker with $109,500 coming from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Quigley noted that as a public authority under state regulations, there are no town approvals needed for the composting operations.
“The RRA does not fall under the town’s planning and zoning protocols,” he said. “But if you did, we would have shut you down long ago.”
Odors from the composting have diminished since complaints began emerging in 2015, with the agency turning the piles more frequently. However, the rancid smell still occurs for several hours and is strongest for drivers crossing going onto the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge.
Agency Executive Director Tim DeGraff said odors are monitored and efforts are being made to further reduce the problem.
“We do drive around specific areas to see if we can pick up odors and then I speak with (Operations Director) Charlie Whittaker from the standpoint of what we’re doing operationally,” he said.
DeGraff added that agency representatives routinely drive to areas where the complaints have arisen to determine the severity of the problem.
“I know this past week there were some odors out there because one of our big pieces of equipment went down,” he said. “It changed the way we were doing operations and unfortunately that was one of the ways we mitigated all the odor (in) the past.”