Officials pledge to fix Monmouth County dump stink

This story has been updated to correct the title of the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission. It had been misnamed in an earlier version.

TINTON FALLS - State and county officials pledged to a packed room of mostly weary local residents to fix the foul, pungent odor emanating from the county dump.

Monmouth County and state Department of Environmental Protection officials were summoned by Sen. Vin Gopal, D-Monmouth, to a meeting at the Hamilton Fire House in Neptune to address a quality of life issue that has roiled the town for months.

Even on a cold and dreary Monday night, the officials had no trouble attracting a large audience, the odor problems have been so persistent and off-putting.

Complaints spiked in January when people began calling the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission, instead of the Monmouth County Reclamation Center hotline number, which resident Tom Loreaux said "never gets answered."

The commission, which received 63 complaints this month, inspected the site and issued five odor violations, health officer David Henry said.

“The odor is not just outside. I have air fresheners plugged in everywhere. The doors are closed, the windows are closed, it’s getting in the house. I stepped outside the other night and it was pungent,” said Camille Lo Sapio, who lives in Foxchase, a development directly east of the dump off Shafto Road.

“There’s no way I could sell my house because it stinks every day,” said Lo Sapio.

Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas Arnone said the "problem has escalated to a level that is not acceptable."

The cause of the stink

Geoff Perselay, reclamation center interim superintendent, tied the odors to a major construction project, which he said exposed 11 acres of the sprawling landfill to the air; escaping methane gas; and leachate seeps caused by too much rain.

Residents said the odors follow them all over town.

Perselay said the landfill's gas collection system was turned off during the construction project, for safety reasons. It was turned back on Jan. 11.

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Leachate comes with any water that comes in contact with garbage. In 2018, the wettest year on record in New Jersey, 55 million gallons of leachate was removed from the landfill site.

“We’ve had a difficult time trying to control those seeps because the landfill is so soggy. When it hits the air it creates a hell of an odor,” said Perselay.

Another issue was revealed at the meeting: residents were never told of the construction project, which started in September and was completed in January.

"I want to apologize. We haven't communicated, if at all, what we do at the landfill," Perselay told the couple of hundred people gathered. "We didn't notify Tinton Falls or the residents that we're going to dig up 11 acres of landfill."

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Solutions

Residents implored officials to shut down the dump, replace the dump with an incinerator or turn the operation over to the private sector, the presumption being that a private operator would manage the landfill better than the government.

Instead, the officials said they would install more wells to collect methane, apply more material to neutralize odors and consider moving landfill operations farther from homes.

The health department has hired a part-time inspector to respond to the complaints.

"We're going to fix this problem and nothing less than that is acceptable," Arnone said.

About the reclamation center

The reclamation center handles waste disposal for all 53 towns in Monmouth County.

The center is located on 900 acres, but only 300 acres are active landfill.

The center handles 400,000 tons of trash a year and 1,300 tons, or 2.6 million pounds, daily.

Dan Radel: @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com