A South Bay landfill that has been the source of complaints for years from neighbors over bad odors will have to clean up its operations under a new order from state air regulators.
The Bay Area Air District announced Wednesday that its hearing board has issued an abatement order to Newby Island landfill, a 342-acre site on San Jose’s northern edges between Alviso and Interstate 880, to increase air monitoring, reduce emissions and take significant steps to reduce odors.
“Families in the South Bay have lived with persistent odors and uncertainty about what is in the air near their homes,” said Philip Fine, executive officer of the air district, a state agency based in San Francisco. “This order establishes enforceable deadlines, stronger monitoring and clear consequences if Newby Island fails to comply.”
One of 11 operating landfills remaining in the Bay Area, the landfill on Dixon Landing Road takes up to 4,000 tons of trash a day from San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Cupertino, Los Altos and other cities. A composting and large recycling facility divert much of the waste.
For decades neighbors, particularly residents of Milpitas, have filed complaints against the facility, saying that on certain days, it emits a pungent, stomach-churning smell that wafts through their suburbs, parks, businesses and schools.
“It’s horrible. It’s a sour smell, like rotten eggs or spoiled food,” said Milpitas resident Malgorzata Sorys. “It’s worst when there are hot days and when the wind is blowing. This is the 21st century. We have the technology to fix it.”
Sorys, who immigrated from Poland to the Bay Area in the 1990s and bought a home in Milpitas in 2001, said she and other neighbors have urged the air district to take more actions.
“The neighborhoods in Milpitas are quiet,” she said. “The schools are excellent. But I was not aware how bad the smell can be when I bought the house.”
The landfill, a former marsh that is separated from San Francisco Bay by an earthen levee, first became an garbage dump in 1938. In the era before Silicon Valley, when Santa Clara County was a farming community, few people lived near it. There were few environmental rules. Workers openly burned trash on the site for years.
By the 1950s, Newby Island was converted into a landfill run by the San Jose Scavenger Company. In 1968 the area was annexed into the city of San Jose. Browning-Ferris Industries took over operations in 1973, and the company opened a major high-tech recycling facility there in 2012.
Air regulators said the facility, owned now by International Disposal Corp. of California, a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Republic Services, America’s second-largest waste management company, was improperly measuring hydrogen sulfide emissions, resulting in an underreporting of the landfill’s hydrogen sulfide concentrations.
As part of the order they required the company to install a continuous emissions monitoring system that provides real‑time data for hydrogen sulfide emissions. That will replace a system that now measures emissions only four times a year.
They also required the company to automate its landfill gas collection system to monitor and adjust gas wells to ensure they comply with health standards. Monitors along the landfill’s fence line must also be built to measure air emissions. And the company is required to survey the property regularly with drones to look for methane emissions.
The air district set various deadlines for the systems to be installed over the next two years.
Company officials said Wednesday that they agree with the order and will implement it, said Yessica del Rincon, a spokeswoman for Republic Services in Arizona.
The landfill provides “an essential service to our customers,” she said, adding that the company, which reported $16.5 billion in revenue last year, “will continue working constructively with regulators, residents and local stakeholders to meet those requirements.”
Milpitas city officials said Wednesday they are pleased with the order.
In 2022, the Bay Area Air District reported it had received 9,635 complaints from Milpitas residents about odors at the site since 2015. The highest number occurred in 2016. They had been trending lower in more recent years.
“This is an important step forward for Milpitas residents,” said Milpitas City Manager Willie Hopkins. “We commend the air district for strengthening monitoring and requiring meaningful actions to address landfill emissions and odors. This progress reflects years of coordination and collaboration, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the air district to deliver cleaner air and protect the health and well-being of our community.”
Wednesday’s action is not the first time the landfill has run afoul of state air regulators.
In 2022, the air district announced the facility had agreed to pay $210,000 to settle 30 violations of air quality regulations that occurred there between 2014 and 2020. Those included multiple landfill gas surface leaks from composting operations in 2014 and 2015, shutdowns of its landfill gas collection system in 2019, and public nuisance violations based on odor complaints between 2014 and 2016.
Omonigho Oiyemhonlan, an attorney for the air district who worked on Wednesday’s order, said that the landfill’s owners still could face other financial penalties for violations since then that the air district enforcement division is currently investigating.
Environmental groups say they are likely to oppose efforts by Republic Services to expand the landfill in the coming years, which would require approval from the city of San Jose, the air district, Cal Recycle, and other state and local agencies. They praised Wednesday’s order.
“Using the newest technology to measure emissions is a good thing,” said Eileen McLaughlin, a board member of the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, a non-profit group that works to restore wildlife, wetlands, and the environment around the South Bay. “With that data, that could be a big improvement for the community if the air district follows through.”
Sorys, the Milpitas resident, says she’s hopeful, but has heard promises before.
“This sounds too good to be true,” she said. “I’m happy but I don’t know if I should be happy too long. I want to see the results.”