For some, the smell brings on nausea and headaches. Others fear ‘forever chemicals’ seeping into the water
UK and Europe’s hidden landfills at risk of leaking toxic waste into water supplies
“I just kept smelling this horrible, nasty smell … like animal excrement, and I was wondering what it was,” says Jess Brown, from Fleetwood, Lancashire.
Brown’s mother suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and she believes the smells make it worse. She also worries for her eight-year-old daughter, whose asthma worsens when the odour seeps indoors.
The stench was traced to the Jameson Road landfill, reopened by Transwaste Recycling & Aggregates Limited in late 2023, after the previous owners Suez stopped accepting waste in 2017. The Environment Agency says that reopening long‑inactive landfills can release gases including hydrogen sulphide, which produces a “rotten egg” odour.
