Monmouth landfill too smelly? Now there's a hotline to call to get a fast response

Dan Radel, Asbury Park Press
·3 min read

TINTON FALLS - As frustrating as the odors emanating from the Monmouth County landfill odor are to nearby residents, so is the response time to complaints when they call county health officials. But Monmouth County's commissioners aim to fix that with a new hotline number.

Residents have griped that it takes hours or longer for an inspector to come on site, if one comes at all. Sometimes, the odor would be gone by the time the inspector arrived. The county has responded with a new hotline number that will be staffed 24/7 by an on-call duty Monmouth County Environmental Health Investigator. Residents will no longer have to be home to meet the inspector, either.

The number to call is 732-559-ODOR (6367).

"The goal is to have an investigator respond to the site of the odor complaint within 30 minutes of receiving a call,” said Thomas Arnone, director of the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners.

Compacted garbage is trucked to the landfill site at the Monmouth County Reclamation Center in Tinton Falls in this file photo.
Compacted garbage is trucked to the landfill site at the Monmouth County Reclamation Center in Tinton Falls in this file photo.

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Monmouth County approved a $20 million capital improvement bond ordinance in March to use taxpayer dollars to fix the issues at the landfill, which saw an increase in significant odor emissions starting last fall. This is the second time in five years where the landfill odor caused numerous complaints from residents that led to town hall meetings with county officials and the landfill management.

"Our council is absolutely thrilled with the new development in the reporting procedure regarding the Monmouth County Reclamation Center and the efforts being made to improve the quality of life of our residents," said Tinton Falls Council President Risa Clay. "I would like to give a special thanks to Councilman John Manginelli for his tireless work to improve this situation."

Most of the issues that plague the landfill are result of too much rainfall on an aging system, officials have said. Roughly 400,000 tons of waste is hauled every year to the Monmouth County landfill, which sits on 900 acres and handles waste for all 53 towns in Monmouth County.

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Five years ago the county spent $7.5 million to install 39 new gas collection wells and turned the daily operation over to a private company — Waste Management. This time around the county is adding more wells, a temporary cap on a portion of the landfill and upgrade to the flares that are used for the combustion of excess landfill, among other fixes.

So far, the county has graded and received the material to cap 30 acres of landfill, installed eight surface gas collection wells, received the material and begun construction of 21 more gas wells, have the components for the flares on site and installed the hotline.

The remainder is in progress:

  • Complete final grade for temporary cap.

  • Design permanent cap for slopes.

  • Complete installation of the temporary cap.

  • Complete two flare upgrade.

  • Continue daily odor-related inspections.

  • Update the Monmouth County Reclamation Center web pages.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; dradel@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth County landfill too smelly? Call hotline for quick response