New Chum Landfill stench in Ipswich suburbs worst in a decade

Ipswich locals are getting desperate as the eye-watering stench from a nearby landfill reaches its worst levels in over a decade.

Desperate locals have rallied to shut down a nearby waste centre after the eye-watering stench, which has tormented them for over a decade, reached its worst levels yet.

Since 2011, locals have struggled with a strong odour coming from the New Chum Landfill site in Ipswich, but they’re now saying the Cleanaway-owned and operated waste service is “out of control” with the stench resembling “burnt soiled nappies”.

The waste company has been pumping leachate out of the base of the waste pile in an attempt to fix the issue, but residents say it’s made it completely intolerable, forcing more than a thousand people to form the Facebook group, Stop The Stink, in protest.

Local and co-founder of the group, Jim Dodrill, said the smell was a public and environmental nuisance that’s now impacting most of Ipswich with people unable to leave their windows open, while others are struggling to sleep.

“There’s an acidic nature to the air, it’s eye-watering. There’s that chemical stench component to it, like burnt soiled disposable nappies,” he said.

Mr Dodrill said the stench from the dump, which is one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, was more noticeable when people were stuck at home during the floods and lockdowns.

“There were more complaints during that time so the government and Cleanaway inferred the smell was caused by the floods, but that’s just not true,” he said.

“They used it as a get out of jail free card to say it was out of their control.”

Mr Dodrill put the odour down to just one thing – poor management.

“It’s because it’s so big and they’re taking interstate and international waste, it’s so out of control. They don’t know what to do with the toxic stew,” he said.

A fire at Cleanaway's New Chum landfill site

A Cleanaway spokesman said the site was temporarily closed and not accepting waste as the company works through mitigation strategies including implementing deodorisers, sodium hypochlorite dousing and pumping water offsite.

“While the circumstances of an extreme weather event were beyond the control of the operator, Cleanaway understands the impacts of the situation on the local community and we acknowledge and appreciate their concerns,” the spokesman said.

“We are dedicating resources to resolve the issue as a priority and will continue to keep the local community and other stakeholders informed of progress.”

Meanwhile, Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Science has launched an investigation under the Odour Abatement Taskforce following the spike in complaints.

According to DES, the latest air quality samples from the site haven’t identified air pollutants that could impact human health.

“DES is continuing daily inspections at Cleanaway to ensure the company addresses odour issues at its New Chum landfill site to reduce the impacts to the local community,” a spokesman said.

Last week, the department issued an Environmental Protection Order that required Cleanaway to conduct additional monitoring onsite and report regularly to the department.

“The formal investigation by DES on the odour issues from the site remains ongoing,” the spokesman said.

But Mr Dodrill said he’s yet to see an improvement, and hopes the efforts of fed-up locals will eventually shut the site down entirely.

“Every morning I check and there’s been no improvement, zero improvement,” he said.

“We’re demanding that the government withdraw their licence and shut it down because of the pollution. It’s an environmental nuisance.”