Pilsworth South Landfill Site

The location of the site in relation to businesses / houses: 

Access is through Pilsworth road, post code BL9 8QZ. Pilsworth commercial and industrial estate is located west of the landfill site; Heywood distribution park and Darn Hill residential located Northeast of the site; and Pilsworth North closed landfill located North of the site just on the opposite site of Pilsworth Road; and mainly agricultural land on the South with Hollins and Unsworth located southwest

The site is a non-hazardous landfill site with an asbestos cell. Activities permitted include disposal of waste in a landfill, landfill restoration, and other directly associated activities which included:

• Temporary storage of landfill leachate
• Flaring of landfill gas for disposal in an appliance.
• Discharges of site drainage from the landfill
• Storage of fuel for operation of plant and equipment.
• Waste Transfer and Recycling Facility (Treatment consisting only of manual sorting, separation, screening, baling, shredding, crushing or compaction of non-hazardous waste into different components for disposal (no more than 50 tonnes per day) or recovery)
• Incinerator Bottom Ash and Hardcore Waste Storage and Treatment Facility (Treatment consisting only of screening and metals removal)

Complaints regarding odour from the site increased significantly from November 2023, peaking in February 2024.

Key points:

• Large volumes of complaints were received from local residents.
• Significant local and regional media interest developed.
• The issue was managed as a national Environment Agency incident.
• The operator voluntarily stopped operations to undertake extensive improvement works.

The site remained closed for approximately 18 months and reopened in October 2025. 

Valencia Waste Management Limited holds an environmental permit for waste activities (Landfill for non-hazardous waste and landfill restoration) and the Environment Agency regulates the site to monitor compliance with the conditions in the permit. 

The Environment Agency’s job is to balance the needs of people and the environment. As part of this we are responsible for permitting and regulating landfill sites, so they don’t harm people or the environment. We can never totally remove the impact, but it is our duty to set high standards for operators and require them to meet these even where that is difficult.

The Environment Agency carries out monitoring and checks to see if an operator is meeting the standards we set. When they don’t, we investigate and take action. In doing this we have to follow both the law and the Regulator’s Code (set by government) which ensures we treat operators fairly.

The Environment Agency regulate the following activities at the site:

• Odour from site operations
• Noise from site activities
• Emissions to air
• Emissions to water

The following matters are regulated by other bodies:

• Visual impact
• Operational hours (planning authority)
• Health 

Following an overhaul of the management systems and significant engineering work on the site, the operator informed the Environment Agency that they intend to start accepting waste again in October 2025 after 18 months of closure.

We assess compliance against the conditions of the site's environmental permit. This includes reviewing emissions monitoring data provided by the operator, carrying out site inspections, investigating incidents and complaints, and assessing whether appropriate measures are being employed, and whether emissions meet permit emission limits and other regulatory requirements. Where monitoring or inspections identify non-compliance, we may require improvements and take enforcement action where appropriate.

The mobile monitoring facility, is situated at Our Lady and St. Paul’s RC primary school in Heywood, and will remain in place monitoring ambient air quality. A final report will be issued after the study finishes in October 2026.

Since complaints increased in November 2023, the Environment Agency has devoted significant time and resources to regulating the site, treating the issue as a major incident and providing enhanced oversight and regulated the site through our Concept of Operations framework. 

The Environment Agency identified shortcomings in the site's management systems and issued a formal warning letter in September 2024 for permit breaches relating to odour problems. Since then, the operator has made substantial improvements while the site has been closed to waste acceptance, with the Environment Agency working closely to secure those changes.

The Environment Agency has also reviewed plans for new landfill cell construction to ensure environmental protection standards are met and will continue to closely monitor the site to ensure compliance with permit conditions and the improved management systems.

We maintain a register of our compliance assessment records.

More information on assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance can be found here - Waste operations and installations: assessing and scoring environmental permit compliance - GOV.UK. 

Yes, the Environment Agency share the details of reports. Please see the latest interim Mobile Monitoring Report May 2025-April 2026 in the newsfeed.

The odour pollution from landfill sites falls into two broad categories.

The first is the waste odour, this is caused by fresh waste rapidly decomposing and tends to come from vehicles traveling to and from the site and whilst it is tipped. This is similar to the odours that are contained within a domestic bin. This can be tackled by depositing the waste quickly and covering it with soils called “daily cover”.

The second type of odour is landfill gas. This is gas generated by the breakdown of the waste inside the body of the landfill site. Landfill gas is mostly methane and carbon dioxide, which are odourless and colourless. However, the landfill gas also contains trace components such as hydrogen sulphide that, even in very small quantities, has a strong smell of rotten eggs, which the human body is very sensitive to. Although the smell caused by the trace levels of hydrogen sulphide gas can be strong and unpleasant, it does not automatically mean that it is harmful. Our sense of smell is very sensitive, and we can smell hydrogen sulphide at very low levels.

The human nose is very sensitive. There are many things that have a strong smell at levels at which there are no direct harmful effects to health. However, strong smells are unpleasant and can impact on wellbeing leading to stress and anxiety. Some people may also experience symptoms, such as nausea, headaches or dizziness, as a reaction to strong smells, even when the substances that cause those smells are themselves not harmful to health.

Short-term transient health effects may be experienced such as irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. People who have health conditions that affect breathing, such as asthma, may experience increased frequency and/or severity of symptoms. With continuing exposure these effects may be prolonged but are not anticipated to continue long-term once exposure is reduced.

Following exposure to any substance, the adverse health effects depend on several factors, including the amount to which you are exposed (dose), the way in which you are exposed, the duration of exposure, the form of the chemical and if you were exposed to any other chemicals. The first noticeable effect of hydrogen sulphide at very low concentrations is its unpleasant odour, which may cause discomfort and some short-term health effects. At higher concentrations it may cause eye, nose and throat irritation. It may also disturb sleep if experienced at night at low levels.

In order to limit the effects of the odour as much as possible, we would advise:

• Close windows if there is an outdoor odour and open them once any outdoor odour has reduced.
• You could consider closing windows at night and opening them in the morning in the absence of odour.
• Ventilate your property when there is no odour outdoors.
• Contact NHS 111 or your GP if you have concerns about your individual circumstances and require health advice.

Odours can be transient and are more likely to occur overnight and in the early hours of the morning when weather conditions are calm and still. Close windows in the evenings if there is an outdoor odour, and open them in the morning once any outdoor odour has reduced

You should contact NHS 111 or your GP if you have concerns about any individual symptoms and require health advice.

We would like to thank the people who have taken the time to report odours.

This information is instrumental and helps us to build a picture of the extent and impact of the issue.

If you experience environmental issues relating to this or any other site, please contact our 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 80 70 60. Alternatively, you can report online via this link: Report an environmental problem - GOV.UK

If you have any questions about the monitoring study or the interim report, then please email; correspondence.gmmc@environment-agency.gov.uk