Residents protest over 'putrid stink' from waste tip which is 'making their lives a misery'

The residents say they havehad enough of the smells coming from the Biowise waste processing site at Willerby which compost thousands of tonnes of garden and food waste.

Chris Mason, who lives a mile-and-a-half away, said it was “like being in prison” leaving her unable to enjoy her garden and having to keep windows and doors closed on the hottest of days.

She said the smell had got markedly worse over the last two years as the site expanded, and about 50 complaints a day were being made by residents, more than 1,000 of whom have joined a dedicated “Stop The Stink” Facebook site.

She said the blame got pinned on farmers slurry spreading but the smell was “different, of rotting food”.

Ward councillors are setting up a new liaison group with council officers and the Environment Agency in response to the increase in complaints.

Biowise acknowledged that composting “is not an odour-free activity and occasionally despite huge efforts to prevent it, our operation will create an odour”.

They said monitoring by official bodies “doesn’t recognise the number or level of odour detected” and there were other potential sources.