Over recent months the smell from a landfill site,
described as being ‘like rotten eggs’ has become an issue of concern for people
living in and around the Staffordshire town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The smell has been produced by a landfill site at
Walley’s Quarry near to the village of Silverdale operated by Red Industries.
The site was opened for use as landfill in 2007 and
with a permit to handle 250,000 tons of waste a year. This was controversially
increased to 400,000 tons in late 2020, by which time residents nearby were
already reporting problems.
In an article ‘Newcastle-under-Lyme A Very Bad Smell
North Staffs Green Party member and local resident Steve Jones calls for the
adoption of a ‘zero waste policy’ to address the problems caused by landfill.
Quoted in the article one local resident describes
feeling ‘embarrassed’ at having to explain the origin of the bad smell to
visitors and talks about neighbours moving away to escape it.
Steve Jones writes that ‘the health and living
standards’ of Newcastle residents being severely impacted by the stink from the
quarry.
He adds that ‘as a community and a country we need to
go to zero waste as a matter of urgency; the health of people and the planet
are relying on us’.
This, he concludes, will be difficult and may require
some significant changes to how we live, but he believes that ‘together we can
make change happen before it is too late’.
North Staffs Green Party have been actively supporting
the campaign by residents for the quarry to be capped for over a year. In this
time, they have had extensive communication with Red Industries and Newcastle
MP Arron Bell.
Local party Coordinator Jade Green said that
‘Newcastle-under-Lyme council need to sort out their waste issue’, adding that
Red Industries ‘cannot cut corners’ when it comes to capping the site.
The full article by Steve Jones can be read at https://northstaffsgreenparty.blogspot.com/2021/02/newcastle-under-lyme-very-bad-smell-by.html
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