The city of Milpitas will go through a year long odor study from Nov 2019 to Oct 2020. It is vital that you report any odor to the various agencies. Read more about this odor study on here. Instructions on how to report odor is on our website also.

Here is the city’s announcement on fb:

City Staff are going out weekly to conduct odor monitoring for the City’s Community Odor Monitoring Pilot Program.

The City’s study will collaborate with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s (BAAQMD) South Bay Odor Attribution Study, which is occurring at generally the same time. The City’s study focuses on assessing and quantifying odors potentially impacting the community while the BAAQMD study will focus on odors from targeted facilities in and around Milpitas.

Updates from today’s South Bay Odor Stakeholders meeting:

1. BAAQMD Odor Study contract decision delayed to November 20. The public will have an opportunity to review and comment on the contract workplan.
2. Newby Island MRF redesign is still under BAAQMD permit review. The building design will exceed new organics regulation. Expect permitting process to take 18 months, and another 12 months for construction. Best case completion date is Q4 2020.
3. Annual biosolid move from sewage plant to landfill is on-going 10/9/19-10/29/19. No odor issue found yet.
4. Odor uptick in recent months confirmed to Newby Island. Multiple operational issues found – broken MRF doors, misting system, trailer leaks and waste storage outdoors. Violations issued by both LEA and BAAQMD.

See report and photos of MRF violation: https://www2.calrecycle.ca.gov/swfacilities/Directory/43-AN-0014/Inspection/452889

Below is the written response from BAAQMD & LEA regarding the recent increase of odor:

BAAQMD : “We have also been investigating what source(s) may be contributing to the odor spike the last few evenings. Our Inspector was in Milpitas in the evenings this week and observed some trailers at the MRF that were overfilled and contributing to localized odors at the facility. Jay took pictures of the untarped trailers and I can ask him to forward the pictures he took. Regarding the CASP, I will need to check in with our staff to see if there were compliance concerns and get back to you. They also conducted patrols at ZWED and the wastewaster treatment facility but didn’t observe odors from those facilities. “

LEA : “The mild odor we could detect we thought was most likely compost and it was in the afternoon (approximately 2:30 – 3:30 PM). We made this determination based on what direction the prevailing winds were coming from (NW) and where we could detect the odor (SE Milpitas) which is downwind from the compost operations. “

More than 1,000 odor complaints were recorded in Milpitas area during the past 4 months. Air quality inspectors were able to trace confirmed complaints to the following sources.

1. Newby Island Landfill (72%)
2. Newby Island Recycler (23%)
3. ZWED (5%)

Good news – Kansen Chu has introduced a new legislatve bill to formally combat odor problem in our area.

HERE IS HIS ANNOUNCMENT:

Lawsuit by city says CalRecycle should look at odor from waste facilities such as Newby Island as part of permit approval.

Source: Milpitas to continue litigation against CalRecycle – The Mercury News