Heat Wave Impacting Landfills, Sanitation Workers in Illinois

The heat wave is affecting us across the United States, but those who live next to landfills are facing extra problems, along with the heat.

Residents of Winnebago County, Illinois are dealing with the heat and the effects it is having on their local landfill, which sits as a neighbor to plenty of residents. With the weather being so hot, it’s making the smell coming from the landfill much, much worse.

“This morning. It was so bad out here,” says Ken Lynch, a Winnebago County resident who has lived near the landfill for more than 40 years. “In fact, it’d be burning in my lungs, my nose everything, couldn’t go back to sleep.”

Lynch also mentioned that the smell from the landfill is making it hard for him to breathe.

“I think our officials need to get together because they have ordinances in here for us to live peacefully in this county without this kind of thing going on this health risk and so forth that we’re going through today,” said Lynch.

The heat isn’t just impacting the smell of landfills, but it’s taking a toll on sanitation workers as they keep up with their daily duties. Four Rivers Sanitation Authority workers are feeling the impact of the heat as they keep up with more than 1200 miles of sewer pipe.

“They work six to seven days a week, so you know in the summertime because there’s a lot of work that’s out there, they are out there every day,” says Executive Director Tim Hanson. “We got to make sure that we watch out for them and safety first always for everything that we do.”

Read the full article here.