On March 7, 2022, the Arbor Hills Landfill and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) reached a settlement on the years of environmental violations at the landfill which resulted in excess emission and noxious odors in the communities downwind of the landfill. The residents of Northville Township have been cautiously optimistic that maybe, just maybe, this settlement would be a breath of fresh air (pun intended) and maybe the landfill owner, Green for Life (GFL), would begin to ‘Walk the Walk’ and not just ‘Talk the Talk’ and start acting like a responsible neighbor.
Instead, what we have witnessed is silence from Green for Life while odor complaints from the community continue to increase. In the first 12 days since the Consent Judgement was signed there have been:
48 odor complaints
Complaints were made by 31 different households
95% of these odor complaints were made on just six days
complaints were not made when the wind blows away from our neighborhoods
Figure 1 - Location of odor complaints received from March 7th to March 19th
The Conservancy Initiative has learned the active portion of the landfill will be moving even closer to our neighborhoods in the coming months. Arbor Hills has begun constructing new landfill cells, cells 6 and 4F, which are very near the corner of Napier and Six Mile Roads. To construct these cells a significant amount of previously buried waste from the closed Arbor Hills East landfill will be excavated and relocated within the landfill.
Figure 2 - Location of new landfill cells
The first phase of this waste relocation project began in March (which may be part the reason for odors) and will require 6,000 – 9,000 cubic yards of waste to be excavated per day for an estimated four to five months. GFL and EGLE understood there is a high potential for odors during this project and included procedures to mitigate odors in the Consent Judgement. Appendix H of the Consent Judgement includes Green for Life’s plans for mitigating odors during this project (Talk the Talk). We have pulled this section out of the consent order and made it available for your review <CLICK HERE>. The Consent Judgement also requires GFL to install equipment for monitoring weather conditions (wind direction/speed), equipment to monitor H2S and Methane concentrations at the landfill perimeter, and drones to check for methane emissions at the landfill surface. The community needs all these provisions to be fully implemented and the pertinent data shared with the community before this project continues. A permit to construct a new landfill cell does not give GFL permission to create excess emissions and nuisance odors which interfere with the comfortably enjoy their home. The Conservancy Initiative is aware EGLE inspectors will be on-site inspecting the waste relocation operations this week and encourages EGLE to take a close look at this operation.
Below is a picture of what appears to be odor suppression operations in place near the fence line at Napier and Six Mile Roads. (Perfume on a …)
Figure 3 - Equipment near Napier and Six Mile Roads. Odor Suppression?
GFL’s Odor Control Plan touts their ‘Smell-it, Tell-it” plan, where employees and contractors are encouraged to report all unusual odors to allow the odors to be quickly addressed before they become significant. The Northville community has been attempting to help with this effort for years by quickly reporting odors to allow corrective actions and problem-solving analysis to prevent reoccurrence. We continue to encourage all residents to promptly report any unusual odors using The Conservancy Initiative’s odor reporting system. These reports are immediately forwarded to Landfill Management, EGLE, Northville, and Salem Township Leadership. The Conservancy Initiative encourages GFL to use the community odor reports to respond to odor issue, perfom root cause analysis, and implement meaningful corrective actions.
We encourage GFL to begin interfacing with the Northville community. A good neighbor would at least have the courtesy to give a heads up to their adjacent property owners before starting such a significant project. Presentations at the Board of Trustees Meetings may be a good forum to announce new projects and significant changes at the landfill. GFL is already a regular presenter at the Salem Township Board of Trustee Meetings; why not Northville Township?