A group of odour complaints received by AEPA on Oct 10, 2025. Claystone was notified of the complaints after business hours on October 10, 2025. No formal report was requested but after thorough investigation Claystone has elected to voluntarily submit this letter.

Complaints:

EDGE00446398 17:50 Household #1, first individual

Odor complaint. It smells like rotten compost/rotten cabbage. The odor is a 6/10. There is a light breeze.

EDGE00446401 19:56 Household #2, first individual

Reporting a compost odor smell that is awful tonight, they are driving home and the smell is there, caller rates as 10/10. It always smells like this at night.

EDGE00446403 20:18 Household #2, second individual

Reporting a compost smell that stinks like compost while driving all along the roads. Caller rates as 9.5/10 and it is pretty bad tonight.

EDGE00446404 22:02 Household #1, second individual

Reporting there is a smell of compost that is coming from the source, there is a wind from the SE and caller rates as 5/10, caller is 1 km away from the source.

EDGE00446405 22:05 Anonymous

Reporting a sweet nauseating smell of compost that caller rates as 5/10 and they just noticed the smell.

Claystone findings:

• Compost and landfill operations were operating withing normal parameters. Nothing out of the ordinary was noted in either operation and no offensive odours were noted in the compost facility.
• ASP material and cure row material was being moved as is normal during processing.
• Manager of Organics Operations conducted odour checks and indicated odour was present when standing immediately downwind of material being processed, but these odours were woody, earthy, musty, and overall consistent with properly regulated compost operations.
• Very slight compost odour was noted at the Northern border of the landfill with a woody/earthy nature and very faint aldehyde characteristics during active turning and moving of material mid-afternoon.
• Landfill odour and sewage lagoon odour was noted quite strongly throughout the day, both in written odour reports and verbally by multiple personnel on site.

Given the on-site observations noting significantly stronger landfill odour with typical rotten characteristics – contrasted with compost odour being much weaker, only noted during active movement of material, and having woody/earthy characteristics – it is most likely that decaying Municipal Solid Waste (common garbage) from the landfill was the source of the noted odours overnight. View the full report