Only On News Channel 3: Mecca Recycling Facility Fixes Odors, Ready To Reopen

Project Manager Mark Patton, of Western Environmental, Inc., is ready to get back to work. His company shut down nearly three months ago and temporarily laid off more than two dozen workers in order to solve its stinky situation.

He said it was an uncomfortable dilemma.

“You’re concerned that you have potential of impacting your neighbors and watching your fellow workers leave and not be employed,” he said.

Since December, residents complained of unusual odors that were making them sick. Some teachers and students at Saul Martinez Elementary School became nauseous.

Patton hoped those problems were over. The facility launched a more comprehensive attack on the stench with water.

Lots of water.

“Water is something that is commonly used,” he said. “We knew it worked. So, let’s stick with something that’s ‘tried and true.'”

350 feet of a misting system now surrounds the facility’s eastern and southern perimeters. The misters serve as roadblocks to prevent odors from escaping.

“We’ve taken the whole downward portion of the property facing the Mecca community,” Patton said, during an exclusive tour given to News Channel 3.

At the south end of the facility where compost piled up, workers will spray water on top with the use of a portable water tank. Patton said this area was where the strongest odors came from.

Western Environmental complied with the EPA’s revised work plan and spent at least $100,000 in improvements.

The recycling plant also invested in a high-tech infrared portable machine known as the MIRAN spectrometer. The attached wand is laid above a compound to inhale the compound’s vapors. The vapors are transferred into the machine’s chamber for analysis.

Within minutes, the spectrometer will identify the type of odor. It can detect more than 120 odors and will be used mainly when trucks enter the recycling plant with full loads.

Environmental and Health Scientist George Bower, whom the facility hired, said he’s satisfied with the changes.

He said his team detected odors at the facility, such as petroleum-based odors (naphthalene, toluene and xylene) and dimethyl trisulfide which derives mainly from rotten vegetables.

Yet, Bower couldn’t explain why residents became sick.

“What we have continued to do, and what we are in the process of doing, is putting together a survey that will begin to identify…all the kinds of sources in Mecca that can cause these kinds of reaction,” he said.

Western Environmental will be handing out flyers in English and Spanish to local businesses and churches to inform residents about the improvements.

The flyer stated: “WEI wants to keep Mecca a wonderful, safe community where families can thrive.”