Melbourne locals fume over nauseating stench: ‘Sick to the stomach’

Residents in Melbourne have kicked up a stink over the putrid smell from a rubbish dump that has engulfed their home for months.

It’s believed rainfall set off the stench which has blanketed Cranbourne in the city’s southeast and its hundreds of residents.

Locals, who’ve likened the smell to rotten eggs, say it’s making them “sick to the stomach.”

“I keep on getting this dry retching, the feeling of nausea, a lot of nausea,” a resident told A Current Affair.

While others said it has completely changed their way of life.

“You can’t leave your doors open, you can’t leave the windows open,” one local said.

“Shrek would love it,” claimed one woman, who’s lived in the area for 28 years.

Kilometres away from homes, the SBI Inert Landfill tip has been blamed for the unbearable odour.

The site was initially a quarry but in 2015 it was granted a permit to start disposing of solid, chemically inactive waste, or construction waste.

Now recent weather patterns have sparked a serious stench.

“The situation seems to have been caused by significant rainfall creating stagnant water that has contributed to trace gases at the solid inert landfill,” the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria said in a statement to Yahoo News Australia.

“An expert EPA odour scientist has been working in the affected neighbourhoods and confirms that while there is not enough gas to cause a hazard, the odour is clearly enough to affect homes and residents’ quality of life.”

The EPA has also issued remedial notices to the operator, making actions to stop the smell a legal requirement.

In a statement shared with Yahoo News Australia, the SBI Group said it was continuing work to address odour issues at the landfill site.

“Trucking of stagnant water offsite has been ongoing and should be concluded this week,” it explained.

“Neutralising agents are being applied to the water and air while these works are underway.”

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“The combination of these activities should result in the dissipation of odour in the coming days.

"We sincerely apologise to our neighbours for the inconvenience this has caused."

The EPA will host a community forum on Thursday for concerned residents and is urging all those affected to continue to report their experiences as it allows them to monitor the situation.

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