This Monday, November 6, Storydata attended the presentation of the UNE 77270:2023 Standard, the result of an initiative that involves citizens in the detection of odor pollution episodes. This type of pollution is the second most annoying to citizens, after noise pollution, but unlike noise, it is very difficult to measure.
By Lluc Salvadó Farré
Odor pollution in areas near landfills and waste treatment plants can cause health problems for residents, generating anxiety, headaches, lack of concentration, insomnia and even irritation of the respiratory tract, as we explained in an article published in the Diari de Barcelona . In addition, waste from treatment plants that give off odors are indicators of other even more polluting products, since the most toxic chemicals for health and the environment are not usually detected through smell.
The UNE 77270:2023 Standard Construction of collaborative odor maps through citizen science , the result of the D-NOSES project promoted by Science for Change , establishes a methodology to detect episodes of odor pollution in affected areas, in real time, through citizen science. The pilot test of this methodology was carried out at the Forum – where there are five waste treatment plants – from February 2019 to November 2022, a period in which 924 observations were collected from residents of the municipalities of Barcelona, Sant Adrià de Besós and Badalona.
A UNE Standard (A Spanish Standard) is a technical specification that establishes a non-mandatory methodology created with the participation of all interested parties, which in this case are the public, companies that manage landfills and waste treatment plants and public administration.
During the presentation of this UNE, which took place yesterday morning in the Lleialtat Santsenca space, speakers Elena Gayo from the Spanish Association for Standardization, Vania Zorich from the International Environmental Association of Odor Managers (AMIGO), Rosa Arias from Science for Change, Silvina Frucella from AIRENET, Laura Rodríguez from the environmental consultancy Mambiente and Martí de Riques from Meteosim explained the benefits of this new methodology, which unlike other odor detection methods, involves people who live in affected areas so that they can record episodes of odorous pollution with the OdourCollect application, providing data to public administration and polluting companies on the environmental impact of the waste they manage.
This regulation is the first to involve citizens in the registration of environmental odor nuisance caused by Potentially Generating Odor Nuisance Activities (APGEMOs), “it provides real-time information and allows for joint solutions to be found,” said Laura Rodríguez, from the Mambiente consultancy. The observations recorded by citizens are crossed with data recorded by meteorological stations – such as wind speed and direction and the influence of sea breezes, lake breezes or air flows near expensive lines – to guarantee the reliability of this methodology, explained Martí de Riquer from the company Meteosim , which specializes in meteorological and environmental services.
“Do you know what it's like to have to stop doing something, to have to stop eating with your family on the terrace because of the smell?” – Josep Carro, resident of Masquefa
The presentation of the UNE standard concluded with a round table in which representatives of the actors involved in this problem participated. Gorka Segura, a member of the round table and resident of Els Hostalets de Pierola, the municipality where the Can Mata landfill, the largest in Catalonia and second in Spain, is located, highlighted the discomfort caused by the smell of the landfill, managed by the company PreZero.
Josep Carro, a resident of Masquefa, one of the other municipalities affected by the odors from the Can Mata controlled landfill, attended the event as a listener. Carro claimed that odor pollution is not only a nuisance, but also conditions the lives of residents in the surrounding municipalities. “Do you know what it is like to have to stop doing something, to have to stop eating with your family on the terrace because of the smell?”, Josep Carro complained from the audience.
The municipalities affected by the Can Mata Ecopark have at their disposal the Nasapp application, which, like OdourCollect, produces a map of odor episodes through citizen participation and collects their observations so that the Hostalets de Pierola City Council and PreZero can monitor odor pollution.
Núria Aguasca, from PreZero, tells Storydata that since 2011 the company “has had a switchboard to collect records of odor warnings” and that “until this date, despite the fact that the depot was operating, there is no evidence that there had been any odor nuisance.” During the roundtable, Aguasca explained that the methodology for recording odor episodes has evolved over the years.
Initially, odors were recorded by workers from the company itself, but this method caused delays, as the workers had to travel from the landfill to the affected area, points out Aguasca. Due to this delay and the lack of impartiality that the workers themselves may have, an external company was hired to carry out these records. Currently, it is the residents of the affected municipalities who record the odors using the Nasapp application.
The round table also included Ivette Cucurull from the Hostalets de Pierola City Council, with responsibilities for the Can Mata Ecopark, Isabel de Lucas , product manager at Nasapp, and Glòria Sánchez, Waste Management technician for the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.