EPA has solution for acrid Attica aroma

ATTICA, N.Y. (WIVB) - The Environmental Protection Agency is taking action to clear out the stinky air making life miserable for residents in Attica.

Forget breathing a sigh of relief - the Village of Attica may finally be able to breathe period. After months of offensive odors, the EPA hopes they've found a solution to the foul smells emanating from a massive glass, plastic and paper pile at Hillcrest Industries and Recycling.

MORE | The DEC has already determined the odors pose no dangers to residents

Originally it was believed rotting food and liquid inside the glass and plastic bottles caused the smells, but it has been determined a fire burning inside the pile is releasing plastic and glass gases.

EPA Public Affairs Officer Mike Basile said, "A lot of times when you get a lot of debris like this together on a pile, and we had a very dry summer, it probably caused it to just incinerate. Some of the temperatures inside the pile reached 600 to 700 degrees."

The 60,000-ton pile covers about a square acre and is 40-feet tall. The EPA will break the pile down to smaller masses and put them out with water and foam.

"We'll collect the runoff water on the site. They'll take the debris, set it aside, make sure the fire is gone and we'll do that until the entire one acre cap has been controlled," Basile explained.

People in Attica are fed up with this because it's been going on for a long, long time. So will this be an end to their problems?

Basile assured, "Once the fire is out, the odor should go away. And then any other issues they may have, those are issues that are going to have to be discussed with the State of New York that permits the facility to operate; but I think this is going to actually control the odor and the odor should dissipate totally."

The suppression will begin Saturday morning. The EPA says residents should expect an increase in steam, smoke and smells from Hillcrest, but they're hopeful that the fire will be fully put out in a few days, maybe up to a week.