Recycling Center Causes a Stink in Indianapolis

HCC confirmed Tuesday evening that there was an air release from a used-oil recycling facility it operates on Tenth Street and that it informed an unidentified local utility and government agency of the matter. However, the company said it didn't believe that the release — part of what it called a "routine semi-annual shutdown" — was connected to the odor problem.

"We do not believe that this shutdown and restart of our facility is connected to the odor problems reported throughout Indianapolis today, due to the nature of the odors and the geographic location where the odors were reported," Heritage-Crystal Clean said in the news release.

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At least one news release reported inaccurate information as public safety agencies scrambled to answer questions. Earlier information identified a factory on 96th Street as the culprit and mercaptan, the chemical additive that gives natural gas a rotten-egg smell, as the source of the odor.