The city of Phoenix has ordered a recycling plant to shut down after complaints from nearby residents about the smell.
As KJZZ reported in August,the acrid odor had nearby residents complaining of potential health hazards.
This week, the city concluded that the stench was coming from the Green Earth Recycling plant, and asked its owners to immediately cease its mulching operations in Deer Valley.
In a letter to the attorney representing the plant, the Phoenix Planning and Development Department denied Green Earth’s request to continue operating, stating that the plant’s temporary use did not meet the necessary criteria.
“Green Earth’s temporary use has created an adverse impact on the properties or persons within the vicinity,” Alan Stephenson, the city’s director of planning and development, said in a statement. “On two different staff visits, staff walked around the area and smelled a strong odor of decomposing plant material from 22405 N. 23rd Ave."
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The plant’s operators had maintained that the strong smell had emanated from the nearby trash facility run by Waste Management. But the city’s report maintained the odor could only be coming from the recycling operation.
City planners have given the plant’s operators 60 days to pack up their mulch and other debris from the site, unless the materials can be placed within an enclosed container or structure that meets code.
Saundra Bryn, who is the manager of the nearby Desert’s Edge RV Park, said residents are relieved.
“They’re happier than ever. It’s been pretty miserable. It was the correct decision. They were operating illegally,” Bryn said.
