Residents raise stink about landfill odor

SOUTH JORDAN — Marj Bragg had been a Utah resident less than two days when she stepped outside of her daughter's Sunstone Village home, breathed in the air and said, "Holy cow! What's that smell?"

Bragg, a retiree from southern California, moved to South Jordan in December to be closer to her family. She lives with another daughter in the Daybreak community, just a few miles from Sunstone Village.

Residents in both west-side developments have complained to South Jordan officials about the odor that wafts in some mornings and evenings.

"The smell can last all night," Bragg said. "If I have a window open in my bedroom, wow, you can sure smell it."

The odor, according to South Jordan city officials, originates from composting at the Trans-Jordan Landfill at 10873 S. 7200 West, specifically from its green-waste recycling facility.

But residents of Daybreak and other developments on the far west side of Salt Lake County should soon have some relief. Efforts are under way to close down the recycling facility by next summer and open it at a new location farther away from residential areas.

John Newman, general manager of South Valley Water Reclamation, said the organization has been partnering with the Trans-Jordan Landfill in the composting process for several years.

"It used to be in the middle of nowhere, and it didn't bother anybody," Newman said.

Developments such as Daybreak, Kennecott Land's 4,200-acre master-planned community, have since moved in, he said, and complaints about the smell have followed.

Chelsea Webber, who lives on Topcrest Drive in Daybreak, likens the smell to the inside of a garbage can that contains four- or five-day-old dirty diapers.

Fellow Daybreak resident Naomi Larson said she assumed the stink was coming from either the Great Salt Lake or the portable toilets being moved to and from construction sites in the area.

Newman said some of the smell may be coming from the landfill itself, but more likely it's the composting site. Treated sewage is mixed with green waste and wood chips and then composted for about five months.

During the composting process, the green waste is turned over so that the heat can cause the materials to break down, he explained.

"Whenever you turn your compost, whether it's in your garden or at the landfill, what you expose gives off an odor," Newman said.