What is causing the ongoing stench in Bootle?

Those of you who have followed our work over the past couple of years will know about our efforts to get to the bottom of the stench regularly experienced in sections of Bootle – predominantly the L20 area.

Having approached the Environment Agency directly on this, last November, we met with 2 of their officers and 2 others from Sefton Council’s Environmental Health team for what is known as an ‘odour run’.

The Environmental Health Officers present have responsibility for both the Cargills and Oil Salvage sites (amongst others), which many people online have identified as being potential sources of the odours in L20 and beyond.

This meeting wasn’t for our benefit – it was already happening and it was encouraging to hear that similar exercises take place throughout the year.

What we learned. Report, report, report!

Both organisations stressed the importance of reporting incidents, even if it feels like nothing happens and nothing changes.

This is because every single report is documented, triaged and ends up with the relevant officer.

There are multiple officers for multiple sites, depending on their nature (waste, food, metal, oil etc).

All reports are plotted on a graph and weather conditions at that time are examined to try and pinpoint the issue.

However, it was noted that this can be extremely difficult with riverside industries as the wind direction onsite often differs to ‘official’ weather reports and can change suddenly.

Although reporting is important, it’s equally important not to report maliciously.

Reporting the stench at a time it isn’t happening skews results, takes away resource for investigations and is generally unhelpful.

The message is to only report when you are experiencing the issue - and to encourage others to do the same.

Site visits

We began by walking to the Cargills rapeseed oil processing plant on the dock road where we saw lots of tanks and pipes, some new, some old… some corroding. It was explained that not all will be in use.

Whilst there, we experienced the food/nutty smell that many of us familiar with this site will know well. It was noted that it wasn’t massively unpleasant, but that it would be, if experienced 24/7.

We learned that the EA is in regular contact with the plant and is responsible for their license renewal. They feedback reported issues to Cargills, and they provide an explanation of what was happening on a given day, at a given time.

Where necessary, Environmental Health Officers will either suggest, or demand certain measures be implemented to address the issue.

Where an operator claims the source to be another site, this is very difficult to disprove.

We then walked from Cargills along Derby Road to Oil Salvage Ltd.

We turned down Strand Road and, as we walked past the Storage King warehouse, its bay doors were open and the gas-like stench we all know was coming through the warehouse and incredibly strong.

As we turned the corner, it had gone.

This demonstrates how locally these smells can be experienced and how changeable conditions have such a big impact.

It was breezy and the wind was coming from the direction of Miller’s Bridge.

As we turned up Lyster Road, the location of the Oil Salvage site, the stench (there is no other word for it) returned.

It was gas-like, head-ache inducing, and made breathing unpleasant. Everyone found it uncomfortable.

The Environmental Health Officer who oversees Oil Salvage, advised that smells like this are worse in spring and summer with increased temperatures. In autumn and winter, they become more localised, and the number of complaints received therefore drops.

Both the Environment Agency AND Sefton Environmental Health like to use this downtime to suggest and chase improvements, which is currently happening with both Oil Salvage and Cargills.

They expect to see an improvement in the spring when things warm up again.

That’s when public reporting will be particularly important.

As we were outside the site, an Oil Salvage employee came out to talk with the EA officer and we were told that a large blue tank behind us was being cleaned.

This backs onto Storage King.

We asked whether the stench could be attributable to the cleaning process?

Whilst it wasn’t ruled out, we were told that cleaning was an essential part of oil processing so it would be difficult to stop it, if that is indeed what it is.

We are as certain as we can be that this is the smell we see/hear so many complaints about across local groups’ social media accounts.

We learned that Oil Salvage Ltd has introduced lots of measures since the last inspection, including carbon filters on chimneys/outlets.

So… what is it?

We explained that local people need to know what the source of the smell is so we can understand whether or not it is harmful to our health, as well as being very unpleasant.

A couple of possibilities were offered.

Either, it is the smell of the wastewater from the cleaning process, or potentially something called Naphthalene.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/naphthalene-properties-incident-management-and-toxicology/naphthalene-toxicological-overview

All agreed that we need to establish what it is and we will continue to remain in contact with both the EA and Sefton Council on this issue.

Where does Sefton Council fit in?

The EA regularly communicate with their counterparts at the Local Authority.

The Sefton Environmental Health officers present were both very knowledgeable and aware of the issues in the area.

They acknowledged the complexities of the industrial setting. With so many businesses in close proximity, it’s often difficult to pinpoint the source of a given issue.

They made it clear that they are on the same page as the Environment Agency, albeit with different areas of responsibility.

They hold the same concerns and want the impact on people’s quality of life to be as small as possible, when living and working next to these heavy industries.

We learned that, in addition to members of the public reporting incidents, they too report to the Environment Agency when they are notified of something believed to be emanating from a site under the EA's jurisdiction.

Conclusions

This was an insightful visit and, we believe it has opened the door to working more closely with the responsible officers in the future.

Whether we will ever be able to put a stop to the worst of the stenches in our area is up for debate.

First, we must identify what it is, and what the known impacts are on our health.

Depending on the outcome, this might force the issue.

We will continue to keep in touch with these officers and update you on progress.