Good practice:

Eradication of air-born odours from the regional waste processing unit in Klaipeda

Odour modelling studies carried out in Dumpiai in 2018 showed that the landfill itself and the regional waste processing unit managed by the KRWMC are not polluting in terms of exceeding emissions of harmful substances. According to the National Public Health Laboratory, of all the companies operating in Dumpiai, the activities at the regional waste processing unit are the cleanest in terms of odours. But still, in order to further reduce the total pollution and meet the demands of the local communities, KRWMC has invested in new odour eradication technologies.
Realizing this problem and that its solution is inevitable, KRWMC has embarked on an experiment and acquired the AirBorn 10 mobile system for eradication of air-born odours. AirBorne 10 is a complex mixture of active ingredients which changes the effective area of a water droplet by approximately 500,000% when it enters the water stream and as it is sprayed through a spray system the droplet becomes extremely absorbent. The AirBorn system sprays liquid with probiotics from easily transportable devices, creating a mist cover that eradicates not only odours themselves, but also the main cause of odours - odour proliferating substances. A 40-70 micron drop of water diluted in AirBorne 10 absorbs dust and gas that decomposes when the drop falls to the ground. Even bacteria and viruses change the condition so that they become harmless.

100 thousand euro of public funding (KRWMC own operation costs from the collected municipal waste tax). Klaipeda Regional Waste Management Centre was in charge of granting public funding from its own resources with the assistance of external consultants and stakeholders.

New odour eradication system at the regional waste processing unit in Klaipeda, Lithuania includes a triple system, with probiotics added to the waste, AirBorn 10 neutralizing agents are sprayed, and ozone generators are started at night. The entire system works flawlessly so far. KRWMC managed to eradicate unpleasant air-born odours from the waste processing unit to the environment. The quantitative result is that citizens’ complaints addressed to KRWMC completely stopped (from ca. 20 to 0).

Although KRWMC has eliminated the unpleasant odours emanating from its regional waste processing unit, all other polluting companies in the Dumpiai industrial zone should take the same or similar dedicated measures. KRWMC measures are not enough to manage the situation in such a vast territory.

Waste management infrastructure around the world has been built as far away from urban areas as possible so that its negative effects do not reach the urban areas. However, as a result of an urban sprawl, waste management infrastructure always inevitably finds itself close to the urban areas, and sometimes even within the urban area, in which case there is a need for those newly urbanized areas not to suffer from the proximity of waste management infrastructure. It is then possible to ensure that polluting companies comply not only with formally established permissible levels of pollution, but also with such a high standard of responsibility for waste management processes that bad air-born odours are completely eradicated, even if they are formally permitted. This is especially important for waste management in the southern countries of the European Union, where the problem of bad odours is particularly acute due to the hot climate.