Foul-smelling man accused of money laundering The Associated Press EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Authorities said a man accused of money laundering was tripped up because he could have used a little cleansing himself. ... See all stories on this topic

Phew! End to town pong in sight thisiskent.co.uk - Tunbridge Wells,England,UK But this week Southern Water revealed to the Kent and Sussex Courier it plans to spend more than £1m upgrading "odour control measures". ... See all stories on this topic

Foul-smelling man accused of money laundering guardian.co.uk - UK AP foreign, Tuesday April 28 2009 EUGENE, Ore. (AP) â€" Authorities said a man accused of money laundering was tripped up because he could have used a ... See all stories on this topic

Recope Admits Selling Gasoline With Ethanol Mix, But Little Can Be ... Inside Costa Rica - San Jose,Costa Rica Earlier this month, Recope was selling propane, mainly used in homes and restaurants, without the added odour to detect the gas in the event of a leak. ... See all stories on this topic

aoc's vinyl ester resin in odour control system Reinforced Plastics - Oxford,UK A fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite structure made with the corrosion-resistant Vipel® vinyl ester resin from AOC has been applied to an odour ... See all stories on this topic

Legacy of industrial expansion in a village Haldimand Review - Caledonia,ON,Canada They were told to document when odour occurred and to describe it and how it affected their health. It did not take long for Anne Louise and her neighbour ... See all stories on this topic

erg's water regenerable carbon filter cuts operating costs by 75% Environmental Expert (press release) - Madrid,Madrid,Spain The Middle East office of Horsham-based ERG (Air Pollution Control) Ltd. has successfully supplied and commissioned the first of a new generation of odour ... See all stories on this topic

Ontario ombudsman slaps Oshawa on wrist for closed meeting Newsdurhamregion.com - Durham,Ontario,Canada It wasn't long before the site's biofilter -- a device that prevents odours from escaping -- stopped working, allowing the putrid odour of rotting food to ... See all stories on this topic

Research to help water, waste utilities WA Business News (subscription) - Northbridge,Western Australia,Australia MURDOCH University researchers have contributed to a breakthrough that could help water utilities and waste treatment facilities deal with odour problems, ... See all stories on this topic

Attention turns to pig farm at centre of protests Times Online - UK ... La Gloria have been complaining since March that the odour from "manure lagoons" created by Granjas Carroll were causing severe respiratory infections. ... See all stories on this topic

Legacy of industrial expansion in a village

Years ago resin waste dripped out of drums onto Winnett Street, then onto Highway 3 and finally on Brooks Road. Those toxic droplets are long gone but what they illustrate are an indelible link between the rusted St. Lawrence Resin Products plant in Cayuga and Edwards Landfill. From the day the plant opened, residents complained about obnoxious odours and then headaches, nauseau and breathing problems. A group of citizens stood up to ask authorities to stop it to protect their health. Today, both the plant site and the dump near Cayuga are known toxic sites. Buried on a 30-acre property located in a wetland undermined by gypsum shafts are drums of resin waste. Their leaked legacy has contaminated soil and well and surface water. Since 2004, a resident group, Haldimand Against Landfill Transfers (HALT), has lobbied against reactivation of a dump deemed in 1991 as the most hazardous abandoned dump in Ontario. "It's buried out there in Edwards Landfill for God's sake," declared Anne Louise Vick who lives a few blocks away from the plant. There are 15 cancer causing chemicals sitting in that dump on Brooks Road and there's been lots of cancer in the neighbourhood, she added during a recent interview with The Chronicle. Anne Lousie described the plant site as dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. Aware that clean up might be suggested, she had grave concerns. "If they started moving earth around there, God knows what they would find," she said. Her spouse, Bob Vick, who is a retired chemistry teacher, pointed out that the silos are filled with resin waste and are corroding. One day their contents will escape, he added. When the plant was running, fallout created an oily, hard coating on windows and outdoor furniture. Red particles floated in bird baths. Residents called out to local governments and the environment ministry for help. They were told to document when odour occurred and to describe it and how it affected their health. It did not take long for Anne Louise and her neighbour Lorna Walker to lose faith in the young Ontario Minsitry of the Environment. Over the past few years, members of HALT lost confidence in the ministry due to its willingness to allow waste in Edwards Landfill even though the operator was not complying with key and required safeguards including a proper collection system for water flowing over new and over historic toxic waste sections. According to dump owner Don Courtney, 35,000 tonnes of contaminated material lies on the surface and in shallow trenches. He and other shareholders own Haldimand Norfolk Sanitary Landfill Inc. (HNSLI) which is the corporate name for the dump west of Cayuga. In 2007, S. F. Partners Inc. senior vice-president Brahm Rosen was named receiver of the company. "No one knows exactly what is in there," Courtney told The Chronicle in 2007. A few weeks later, landfill shareholder Struan Robertson told The Chronicle that an agreement to decomission historic waste was one of the benefits the company traded to get the licence from the environment ministry. When Courtney and the late Frank Campbell purchased HNSLI, a valid certificate of approval came with it and remains in place. Both the dump and the plant pose a hazard to health. Anne Louise and Walker know first hand. Air emissions forced them to slam windows shut on humid nights. Their children became sick. They and other Cayuga residents started to fight for the safer environment they enjoyed before the plant opened. Their group was called the North Cayuga Ratepayers Association and their battle spanned about a decade. Acting as the group's spokesperson, Walker wrote letters to the environment minsitry, the former Haldimand council, the Haldimand Norfolk Regional council and to local members of the legislature and parliament. She has the files to prove it. In one page carefully slid into the Presentations File, is a brief note written by her when fatigued. "Thurs. Scottie is terribly sick all nite. Resin all nite thru the house," her fine pencil strokes read. She added that Dr. David Marshall, who stated emissions leukemia, was the first to take a stand for people in Cayuga. As far as Walker can remember it was 1975. Around that time, Scott needed hospitalization and his brother was a baby. She recalled scooping the baby out of the carriage when a daytime plume came to their backyard. As an adult, he majored in chemistry in his post secondary education and has told her they should have moved away from the plant. "I just remember my frustration and my fear that my kids -I'm subjecting them to this," said Walker. "You had to ask how safe is this right in the next block...The maddening part of it though was they were making big, big money over there." When it was humid, people couldn't breathe, she Under certain conditions it was devastating," stated Walker. While the resin plant was running, Macy Vick grew sick with pleurisy and only recovered when taken out of town. Benzene, a polyaromatic hydrocarbon, could have played a factor in her condition. Benzene can cause respiratory irritation and can be absorbed in the body at a rate as high as 80 per cent. Women are most susceptible and if they are pregnant, benzene moves into babies. One of the potentially fatal side effects of inhaling the substance is pulmonary edema, a condition where fluid builds up in lungs and can cause death if not treated immediately. Anne Louise's son, David, suffered from asthma and she had severe headaches. The highly flammable benzene can also cause diabetes, urinary tract disorders, skin rash, and kidney disease. They were also exposed to naphthalene putting them at risk of liver and neurological damage and possibly cancer. In 1976, the ministry said dispersed chemicals including ethyl stryene and toluene did not pose a risk to health. Benzopyrene and naphthalene were found in soil and water tests done a few years ago in Edwards Landfill by a firm working for the dump owners. Those two hazardous chemicals were not permited in the 1971 operating licence. Used to make rubber, lubricants and adhesives, toluene was also found in emission tests done by the ministry in 1976. This chemical can impair the nervous system and cause nausea and headaches. In high levels, it can kill. Similar chemicals turned up in Love Canal when heavy rains released them from an abandoned canal along the Niagara River in New York. Benzene, chlorobenzene and chlorotoluene were drawn to the surface. Dug into clay in 1894, the canal was abandoned and 50 years later became an industrial and municipal dump filled with unknown chemicals. After the rain in the 1970s, over 240 homes were evacuated. Around the same time, many Cayuga residents were exposed to other airborne chemicals including xylene, ehtylbenzene, ethyltoluene, methyl styrene, cymene and divinyl benzene. This chemical stew came to the village after council approval. The resin plant was expected to be the first enterprise in a new industrial area right beside the town's north edge. It all started in Canada's Centennial year, 1967. On Sept. 7, Elgin Houison of Cayuga sold the 16- acre 82 Fishcarrier Street property to St. Lawrence Resin Products Limited for $1.00. Fifteen days later, Houison gave the company a $5,000 mortgage. On Nov. 23, 1967, the Cayuga town council granted permission for a resin plant building permit during an emergency meeting. A typed presentation to a local council noted that the plant was rejected in Caledonia and Dunnville. "(Cayuga councillors) were dying to get industry in the area so they jumped on it," said John Walker. On Jan. 4, 1968, Cayuga council passed a restricted area bylaw that outlawed uses described as "noxious trade". The ratepayers association said the resin plant did not conform to the bylaw. Also in January 1968, the Dunnville Chronicle reported provincial loans of up to $250,000 to attract industry to smaller centres including Dunnville, Cayuga and Caledonia. Loans were forgiven after six years if industries were a benefit to the community. The resin plant was operating by 1969 charged for air pollution by the provincial air management branch. In 1971, the case was dismissed in the Cayuga courthouse. After proceedings, plant president John Currie, Anne Louise Vick, an OPP officer and an engineer with the air management branch and reporters from the St. Catharines Standard and the Welland Tribune walked out of the courthouse and into an obnoxious breeze. Immediately another charge of air pollution was laid but the company was only fined $100. In 1972, the provincial environment ministry was founded and maintaining air, water and land quality were among its responsibilities. Over the next three years, more houses were built in the neighbourhood where odour was growing stronger. Walker said the company deliberately released fallout in the night. In 1975, 90 Cayuga residents signed a petition asking the ministry to eliminate the offensive odour. Air samples were taken but not released for a year. In 1976, Dr. David Marshall, now a Superior Court judge, described fumes as a leukemia and lung cancer threat. Benzene exposure can cause a fatal reaction, he told the Town of Haldimand council. Due to findings of several chemicals, the ministry ordered the resin plant owner to control emissions, control odour from the flaker building, keep containers of solvents closed, pour a cement pad to prevent spills that might reach Pike Creek and order spare parts for maintenance. Regardless of those safeguards, disaster happened in July 1981. "They had a bad mess over there and chemicals spilled into Pike Creek," recalled Anne Louise. "That killed all the fish, foliage, muskrats -everything." According to a Hamilton Spectator story, almost 450 litres of solvent killed wildlife and flowed into a ditch and pond downstream. The plant manager linked the spill to a corroded pipe that failed six months before replacement was scheduled. Clean up included soil removal and straw to soak up the solvent slick. In 1989, the St. Lawrence Resin Products Plant was bankrupt. In 1989, Donald Early, president of 815244 Ontario Inc. paid $615,000 for the site and the mortgage was held by 815244 Ontario Inc. The company was sold in the late 1990s. In 1996, the former Town of Haldimand placed a tax arrears certifcate for $72,000 on the property and the environment ministry ordered the owner to clean it up. It didn't happen and neither did a clean up ordered in 2005. That year, the ministry removed highly caustic boron triflouride that can eat through skin and destroy lungs. The buildings were boarded up by the municipality. That year, hydrogeologist Wilf Ruland said contaminants in groundwater and leachate at Edwards Landfill exceeded provincial drinking water standards. For instance, 392,000 micograms per liter of naphthalene was found in dump water and the water quality objective is seven. Last year, resin plant buildings were found open again so the county nailed them shut and the ministry ordered the owner to clean it up. It did not happen and failure to do so is under investigation by the ministry. Haldimand County senior managers are working on a report outlining options for county response to the resin plant site. Options can include containment or selling it off for brownfield development.

Copyright © 2009 Dunnville Chronicle

Odor Matching: The Scent Of Internet Dating

Dating websites will soon be able to compare partners in terms of whether the personal body odour of the other party will be pleasant to them. This has a very serious biological background.

If the start-up company Basisnote get their way, we will soon not only be able to match looks and interests in the profile of a potential partner with our own preferences. Now even the individual smell of the other party can be recorded in the profile and then checked to see if it will be pleasant for us. Even before going on the first date.

“If everything fits, you have the same interests, lots to talk about, but you can’t stand their smell, then a love affair doesn’t stand a chance,” explains biologist August Hämmerli. He makes the online smell profile possible with his company Basisnote. The start-up from Bern has worked together with ETH to develop a fast test to determine your own body odour and enter it as a code in a database. If the flirt partner has also entered their smell profile, you can find out within seconds whether you would like their smell.

All of this works by taking a saliva test, which can be carried out easily at home. It works with a chromatographic process, similar to a pregnancy test. The result: a simple digital code, which can be entered into an online profile. All of this takes no longer than twenty minutes. Hämmerli continues: “Obviously, smell is by no means the only factor in choosing a partner. However, our test makes it a measurable component.” The company is developing the test together with Mathias Wegner, head assistant at the Paul Schmidt-Hempel chair at the Institute for Integrative Biology. The test will appear on the market this year in cooperation with an online dating provider.

Immunity check through the nose

This all sounds like another gag for online dating platforms. Far from it. According to an explanatory model by evolutionary biologists, there is a valid explanation for why our nose is so important when it comes to choosing our partner. It is not without reason that we have to literally be able to “stand the smell” of our partner, if we are to find them likeable or even more. Our nose has sensitive receptors. They probe whether the other party has as few similar genes to us as possible. The more varied the gene pools are, the higher the chance for healthy, strong offspring.

It has been a well-known fact for a long time that mice check their potential mating partners by smelling them. The fact that humans do the same on a subconscious level was first proven in the nineties by biologist Claus Wedekind at University of Bern. He let female students smell T-shirts that had been worn by male test persons. The women had to indicate the smell that they found to be the most pleasant. It was shown that they consistently chose the men whose immune system was most different from their own.

How does this work? Basisnote founder August Hämmerli explains: “The genes of the MHC, the Major Histocompatibility Complex, carry the instructions for important building blocks of the immune system, the MHC proteins.” These bind fragments of foreign proteins, for example following an infection, and pass them on to the body’s own defence cells, which initiate a defence reaction. The more different MHC molecules someone has, the more different pathogens his body can defend against. In humans, there are more than one hundred variations of each of the nine most important MHC genes. The more varied the MHC, the better the immune systems of the offspring will be armed. Hämmerli: “The specific body odour is marked by the MHC combination. It is transmitted in the bodily fluids and transformed into the body’s very own smell on the skin.” The stronger the difference in immune system between the potential partner and yourself, the more pleasant you will find their smell.

Test instead of a T-shirt

According to Hämmerli, Basisnote is really just applying Wedekind’s T-shirt study to a standardised test system. August Hämmerli is so convinced of the success of his idea that he gave up his position as scientist at ETH to found the company. The Bern-born man coordinates the interface between the interested firms and the research work at the ETH laboratories. Co-founder Dominic Senn is an economist and political scientist. He also worked as a scientist at ETH up to the founding of the company, and is now responsible for the development of the business as CEO. Physicist Manuel Kaegi, who is just finishing his dissertation at the laboratory for safety analysis at ETH, looks after the IT implementation at Basisnote and interfaces with existing online dating platforms.

For two-and-a-half years, the three men have collected development funds and worked intensively on the details of the product. Now all technical issues have been resolved and it only remains to define the most user-friendly application. They are also preparing the first scientific publications on the subject.

The negotiations with online dating platforms are in their final phase. Hämmerli is happy to say that there has been great interest. He is reluctant to reveal which partner search site will soon be featuring smell as a dating component. This will have to wait until the autumn.

Setting up their own partner search site is out of the question. Their plans for the future are along other lines: “There are so many interesting areas. Once all of this is up and running, we want to have a look at the perfume sector,” Hämmerli reveals.

ANOTEC ODOR NEUTRALIZER

I am currently catsitting for a friend who has two beautiful cats. However, while I am watching over the kitties, the friend’s mother came into the house and complained of the odour. The thing she did not realize was that the house always smelled this way she just wasn’t use to it.

Fearing that the owner would have a similar problem when she returned, having been away for so long, I sought out a fabric refreshner/odor eliminator. Noting that the leading brand was out of stock, my eyes rested on ANOTEC Odour Neutralizer. It was on for a reasonable price but I was skeptical, having tried one of their other products to mixed results.

I took it to the house and sprayed all the fabric.  I was expecting something a little tart, but it was a gentle scent.

After much usage, the house is smelling great. You can see and play with the kitties without having to smell any so-called offensive odours. The mother has also not complained, apparently she smells the difference as well.

Tips for an Odour Free Toilet

Tips for an Odour Free Toilet

Toilets are generally not thought to be the cleanest part of the home. By nature of their duty, they are likely to get dirty and smelly on a regular basis. 

 

Germs, mold, mildew and bacteria build up in your toilet bowl, creating a potential health hazard and off-putting odours.

 

So to keep your toilet clean:

• Kill the bacteria and accompanying odours,  by pouring distilled white vinegar in your toilet overnight
• Use bleach under the rim of the toilet to get rid of mold and mildew
• Install a tank cleaner on your toilet

External expert called for odour issue

An outside engineering firm is investigating the odour in Hawkstone Landing. Coun. Jason Gariepy said at last week’s council meeting he is happy that administration is working on the problem. “I don’t believe they have spared any expense in doing this, so I just want to express my appreciation,” he said. Since spring of last year, residents have lived with a strong sewage smell Administration has been unable to locate the source of the stench after conducting tests. The county has been using a substance called BioMagic, which temporarily alleviates the issue until a more permanent solution can be reached. Coun. Jacquie Fenske asked administration what happened to the financial responsibility of the company who designed the system, but her question was not answered publicly. Associated Engineering is reviewing surveys completed by residents this month. The company will recommend an engineering solution and odour control strategy once the problem is found. A wastewater technical specialist from Associated Engineering is being called in to help solve the issue. The technician has more than 40 years experience and has been involved in municipal odour control programs. The team will recommend a solution at the beginning of May. catherine@sherwoodparknews.com

Copyright © 2009 Sherwood Park News

Women pick up body odour better

Women may be better at sniffing out biologically relevant information from underarm sweat, a US study suggests.
Researchers found it was difficult to mask underarm odour when a woman was doing the smelling, but quite easy to do so when it was a man. 

They speculate that a woman's highly attuned smell radar might help her select a mate.

The study, by Philadelphia's Monell Center, appears in Flavour and Fragrance Journal.

In the study, women and men rated the strength of underarm odours, both alone and in conjunction with various fragrances.

The fragrances were selected to test their ability to block underarm odour through a method known as olfactory cross-adaptation.

“ Women perhaps need to be more discriminating when they chose who to mate with to produce offspring ”
Dr Leslie Knapp University of Cambridge
This occurs when the nose adapts to one odour, and then also becomes less sensitive to a second odour.

Sniffed alone, the underarm odours smelled equally strong to men and women.

But when fragrance was introduced, only two of 32 scents successfully blocked underarm odour when women were doing the smelling.

In contrast, 19 fragrances significantly reduced the strength of underarm odour for men.

Lead researcher Dr Charles Wysocki, a behavioural neuroscientist, said: "Taken together, our studies indicate that human sweat conveys information that is of particular importance to females.

"This may explain why it is so difficult to block women's perception of sweat odours."

Male smells robust

Not only were women better smellers than men, but male odours were harder to block than female odours.

Underarm odours from the two sexes did not differ in how strong they smelled.

However 19% of the fragrances successfully reduced the strength of male underarm odour, compared to over 50% for the female equivalent.

The volunteers first sniffed vials of underarm sweat to assess the strength of the odour.

Then they continued to rate the intensity of the smell while sniffing a second fragrance for around two minutes.

A drop in intensity ratings for the underarm odour indicated that the fragrance was a successful cross-adapting agent.

Evolutionary reasons

Dr Leslie Knapp, an expert in biological anthropology at the University of Cambridge, said there were good evolutionary reasons why a woman's ability to detect body odours should be more acute, as it could literally be an effective way to sniff out a suitable mate.

She said: "Women perhaps need to be more discriminating when they choose who to mate with to produce offspring, as they invest more than males in the reproductive process.

"Men don't need to be so choosy, they have lots of sperm, and can reproduce with lots of females, but once a woman reproduces with a partner she is tied up for nine months."

Dr Knapp said there was evidence that odour gave a hint about genetic make-up. She highlighted HLA genes involved in the immune response.

She said in evolutionary terms it was desirable for a women to mate with a man whose genes were different from hers, as this was likely to produce more robust offspring.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7981133.stm

Published: 2009/04/07 04:19:57 GMT

© BBC MMIX

How to get Rid of Cigarette Smoke Smell

While researching this topic, I asked a relative for some practical advice to rid my house of cigarette smoke. Their answer was immediate and to the point: QUIT SMOKING! Who isn’t tired of hearing that one? The truth is that cigarette smoke permeates into our furniture, our carpets, our walls, our windows, and just about every other nook and cranny in our homes. Us smokers are generally unaware of the smell. The same problem exists in our cars. There are large numbers of people who are allergic to cigarette smoke, or suffer some very serious breathing issues when they come into contact with it. Even the lingering smell of cigarette smoke left in a home or a car by its previous occupants is not just noticeable, but may be close to intolerable to a non-smoker. So if you’re not ready to kick the habit just yet, let’s explore some methods of controlling the cigarette smoke in our environments. Who knows, the next person to bask in your odor may be a hot date or prospective employer and if they don’t smoke, a noticeable odor will definitely make an impression.

Get the Smoke Out!

If you smoke inside, devise a system that pulls the smoky air outside of your home so it doesn’t have time to set on your surroundings such as smoking in front of a window fan that is set to expel air from the room. Despite the people who feel second hand smoke is a health risk even if you are smoking outside in a wind storm, the smoke needs to be trapped inside an enclosed area to deposit its odor.

Make a Smoker’s Lounge

If you have any rooms in your home which are seldom used, consider making one your smoker’s lounge and furnish it accordingly. This room will reek, but it will also keep you from stinking up the rest of your home. Better yet, set up shop on your porch or patio to keep the stink out of your house entirely.

Purify the Air

There are many [1] air purifiers on the market that claim to remove cigarette smoke and odor from the air before it gets a chance to turn your windows yellow. Many of them call themselves “ozone” based [2] air cleaners. They run the gambit from crap to somewhat effective, but even the best ones only work in the room where they are placed. If you only have an occasional smoke then a good air purifier might be just what you are after, but for daily smokers these will only drain your wallet along with your electricity.

Mind Your Butts

A single ashtray can stink up a room almost as quickly as a lit cigarette. You can fight this menace by placing an absorbent substance in your ashtrays. This works both inside your home, and in your car. Baking soda works wonderfully, just pour enough in your ash tray to submerge your butts and use it to extinguish and bury the tip of your cigarettes when you are finished with them. This is not going to solve the problem 100%, but it will help. It will not only help diminish the smell of an ashtray full of extinguished butts, but will also draw some of the smoky odor out of the surrounding air. It is certainly a lot cheaper than putting an “ozone generating, state of the art titanium based corona and ultra violet light” air cleaner in every room of your house. Even if you can plug one into the cigarette lighter of your car, you’re still going to need to unplug it to light your next cigarette. [3] Ashtrays with air-tight lids will also do the trick.

Your Clothing and Your Breath

If you find yourself in a situation where you really need to keep your person free of cigarette smoke smell, but you want to light up regardless then here’s what you do. First, smoke outside facing away from the wind, upwind from any other smokers in the vicinity, if you have an overcoat with you, wear it. This will keep most of the smoke away from your clothing. After you’ve finished your stogie, remove your coat and stand out in the wind a little longer to flush your person with fresh air. If it’s not particularly windy, take a brisk walk. As for your breath, the best you can do is brush your teeth, gargle with a [4] strong mouthwash, and follow that up with the strongest mint you can handle.

Fall in Love with a Fellow Smoker

You might as well face it. Your body, your clothes, and most of all your breath are going to smell like cigarettes. Also, your teeth are going to turn a bit yellow. Cigarette smoke can be removed from the body and your clothing with normal washing. You can use [5] whitening toothpaste , brush three times a day, use lots of mouthwash, and visit the dentist daily for professional teeth cleaning and this will remove all traces of cigarette smoke from your body, your clothes, and your breath… until about ten minutes later when you light up your next Marlboro. Cigarette smoke smell can be reduced, and it is a polite thing to try, but as long as you smoke, the problem of their lingering odor will exist, and non-smokers will be unhappy with it. Oh well. [6] Getting Rid of Cigarette Smoke Smell for Non-Smokers >>

Getting Rid of Cigarette Smoke Smell for Non-Smokers

If you are a non-smoker, and have become the owner of a home, car, book, or sofa that once belonged to a smoker, you are likely here because you want to remove that awful cigarette smoke smell. Here are some suggestions:

Cigarette Smoke Smell in Furniture

The Fabreeze Controversy When confronted with any odor on furniture, curtains, or bed linens, the natural thing to do is reach for a deodorizer such as [7] Fabreeze. Some argue that this simply masks the odor temporarily and it will return as soon as the spray product evaporates. There have also been reports of breathing problems associated with the use of fabreeze and other deodorizers. Others swear it doesn’t work anyway. It just turns the odor into a disgusting blend of smoke and the great outdoors. If the odor your battling is very weak, it’s worth a try. If it’s strong then don’t even bother.
Get it Steam Cleaned Cigarette smoke smell in fabrics emanates from tar ash and oil deposits left in it’s fibers. In order to remove the smell, you need to remove these deposits. Unfortunately, when cigarette smoke condenses onto something, the resulting ‘goo’ is very, very stubborn. If you’ve ever cleaned (scraped) this residue off of glass or painted walls you know exactly how stubborn it can be – imagine that same goo stuck in every fiber of the piece of furniture you wish to clean. The bottom line is that household cleaners just won’t cut it, hire some professionals to come and clean it for you. Make sure they use a van-mounted [8] steam cleaner and tell them exactly what your objective is so they can use the appropriate cleaning solution.
Low Budget? Completely cover the piece of furniture you’re cleaning with baking soda and then rub it and pat it into the fabric so it gets as far into it as possible. Let it sit overnight and then vacuum it all back up.
Get Rid of it This is not meant to be flip, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses. When cigarette smoke gets deeply enmeshed into the fabric of an ex-smokers favorite couch, there may be nothing that will ever get it out. Unless you enjoy reupholstering furniture, you might just have to throw it away. Better yet, sell it to a smoker.
Removing Cigarette Smoke Smell from Carpets

Carpets aren’t as hard as walls, but they’re still a lot of work.

Rent a Shampooer Most home improvement stores have [9] carpet shampooer available for rental. Go pick one up, along with a bottle or so of shampoo, and get to work. A good carpet shampooer can remove the cigarette smell, but it may take several passes through each room to get it all. To make your job easier, sprinkle baking soda liberally over your entire carpet the night before you plan on shampooing, and vacuum it up just before using the carpet shampooer.
Call in the Professionals Give the carpets a serious and [10] professional carpet cleaning . Hire a [11] carpet cleaning company that uses van-mount steam cleaners. Tell them exactly what your goal is so they can use the appropriate cleaning agent when they arrive. If you have furniture to de-smokify, make sure they use smaller upholstery attachments and not the huge vacuum-like wand they use on your carpets.
Low Budget? Fill a large tub with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), add a few drops of essential oil and mix well. Lavender smells nice, but the flavor is up to you. Sprinkle the mixture liberally over the carpet, let it sit for at least four hours and then just vacuum it up. Repeat as necessary.
Cleaning Cigarette Smoke Residue from Walls

Cleaning a smoker’s house is a nightmare, brown and yellow stains will be on everything from the windows to that intricate crown molding. Unless you’re willing to hire somebody else for the task, get ready for a lot of work.

Vinegar Next to Italian salad dressings, this may be vinegar’s most important job. Even if you are going to paint the walls, you still need to clean them first. In a large bowl or bucket mix one cup of white vinegar for every two cups of warm water, then add a scoop of baking soda – it should fizz. Use a [12] sponge mop or brush to wash down your walls and ceilings with it. This solution will make residue much easier to remove and should be easy on your paint too. Follow this up with a vinegar based window washer for windows (can be found in organic grocery stores), and your basic bubbly vinegar/baking soda mix on the window moldings.
Paint If you’re still not happy with the result, you can attempt the last step again, or just repaint your walls.
Removing Cigarette Smoke Smell from your Car

Good old Vinegar The same mixture of vinegar and baking soda that you used on the walls inside the house can work on the interior of the car (one cup of white vinegar for every two cups of warm water along with a good scoop of baking soda). Wash down the windows, plastic moldings, and metals with a generous amount on a sponge. Don’t use this on fabric, however. Treat fabric as you would carpet inside – saturate it with baking soda, spray with a diluted solution of essential oil and water (optional), let sit overnight, and vacuum.
Cigarette Smoke Smell Home Remedies: There are almost as many cigarette smell removal remedies as there are people. Some of the ideas appear to mask the smell with another more powerful odor rather than to remove, so be sure you are going to be happy with the result. Here are some of them:
Fill a tub with vinegar and place it on the floor in the front seat, close the windows, open the floor vents and turn on the heat full blast. Let the car run in this state for an hour before removing the tub. Another version of this remedy requires hot summer weather and allowing the tub sit on the floor with the windows closed all day.
Leave an opened bag of charcoal in the car overnight.
Put a few drops of vanilla extract on a rag and toss it under the seat.
Put a sliced apple in a cup and set it on the floor. Leave it until it shrivels.
Sprinkle dry coffee grounds on the floor of the car, let them sit there for a few days and vacuum them up.
Mix of apple sauce and cinnamon and put it into a jar with holes punched in the lid. Place the jar on the floor of the car.
Which ever method you try, be prepared for several re-applications. You are going to most likely need them. If you have any tips to make this easier, please share them with the rest of us using the form below. Good luck!

anotec odour control  the science of odours

http://anotec.com.au 

A solution for smelly farms?

Hog farms are notoriously smelly, and those close to homes are often the target of complaints. But thanks to a relatively new technology , the barn we visited was virtually odor free.

“You could have sat alongside that barn and ate your lunch,” said a former pig farmer “It was just fresh air coming out of there.”

Several years later, odor neutralizers have yet to catch on as a widespread method to control odor at livestock facilities. That’s largely because of their cost, which can be much too expensive for most farmers.

But experts say they remain the best way to filter the compounds that cause farm-related smells, and could someday also be used to contain the spread of animal diseases and reduce global warming.


“We have firsthand knowledge that they work,”


They work by pumping air from inside a barn through a bed of plant material, such as wood chips or corn stalks.

The material contains microorganisms that break down the compounds that cause odor.

“As it comes out, it doesn’t smell,”

So far, odor controls have been used mainly at hog farms, which tend to draw the loudest complaints about odor. They are less common at dairy farms, where manure stored in pits tends to develop a crust that helps block odor.

“It’s a tool that we have and could use if we felt that we needed to,” he said.

Costly endeavor

Unlike a scrubber in a smokestack that controls a limited amount of air flow, the biofilters must be big enough to handle the air pumped out of a large barn. That means they occupy a big footprint and require industrial-size fans to pump the air.

That pushes up the cost to somewhere around $10,000 for a 1,000-head barn, pricing them out of reach for many farmers. That is why Odor neutralizers are the go.

“People have just not been willing to put them in,” . “They sort of work. Whether or not they’re cost-effective is key.”

A crop farmer who had hoped to build a new pig barn. He said he believes biofilters are “a good thing to keep the odor down,” but he has not made up his mind yet whether the project still makes financial sense.

“They’re getting more expensive than I thought,” he said.

installation of odor control are on a case-by-case basis.

“They’re not going to be overused,” he said. “We know how times are, and farmers have it tough enough as it is.”

Future development

Researchers are working on new designs for odor control that would take up less space. One, could have A-frame design that leans at a 60-degree angle against the barn, he said.

Researchers also are looking into whether biofilters could do more than just control odor, possibly giving farmers another incentive to install them.

They are used extensively in Europe to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases thought to contribute to global warming.

Still, at least for the time being, high cost probably will remain the top issue driving biofilter technology

“It’s not going to go away,” he said. “More and more people are less tolerant ... of livestock odors. We’re becoming more and more urban, and fewer and fewer people have memory of production agriculture and the smells associated with that.”

Residents raise stink about planned bioenergy plant

A dozen trucks would haul sewage sludge, food waste and restaurant grease into a proposed South Side bioenergy plant every day.A dozen trucks would haul sewage sludge, food waste and restaurant grease into a proposed South Side bioenergy plant every day.
And a draft permit for the facility, which would convert the waste into a burnable gas, would allow for more than 40 tons of air-pollution emissions every year.

But officials with Schmack BioEnergy and partner Kurtz Bros. Inc., each based in the Cleveland area, say the plant, to be built at 2500 Jackson Pike, won't stink.

South Side residents, who already live with a host of industrial smells, say they are wary.

"It seems like every time there's something that has the possibility of creating odor, they stick it in this area," said Teresa Mills, a Grove City resident and leader of the Buckeye Environmental Network.

"If this is going to be such a great facility, why don't they stick it in Worthington?"

The facility would use bacteria to digest 40,000 tons of waste a year to create methane that would be burned to make electricity.

"If we have leaks and we're losing biogas, we're losing our profit," said Bruce Bailey, Schmack's vice president of technical affairs. "There really is an economic incentive for us not to cause odors."

Residents and others can attend a public hearing on Tuesday hosted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The plant has applied for a state permit that would limit air pollution and odors.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Columbus Metropolitan Library branch located at 3540 S. High St.

"The steps they are taking should minimize any odors that come out of the process," said John McGreevy, an air-permits and compliance specialist in the Ohio EPA's Central District office.

Bailey said the plant would use a series of enclosed tanks to process 25,000 tons of sewage sludge and 15,000 tons of food waste and restaurant grease every year.

The gas burned would create as much as 1.5 megawatts of electricity per hour.

The plant's draft permit allows for emissions of as much as 23.8 tons of sulfur dioxide and 20.8 tons of nitrogen oxide each year. Both pollutants contribute to smog and airborne soot.

Kurtz Bros. opened a similar plant in Akron a year ago.

Officials with the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District said they have not received any complaints.

Mills and other advocates say there already is enough pollution created by South Side industries, including the city's Jackson Pike sewage-treatment plant, the Sanimax rendering plant, the Columbus Steel Castings foundry and a Groveport composting facility run by Kurtz Bros.

Those sites have been the subject of odor complaints in recent years. Ohio EPA officials have logged 32 complaints about the foundry since January 2008, and three complaints about the rendering plant.

There were no complaints about the composting facility last year.

Moira Bulloch, spokeswoman for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an advocacy group based in Falls Church, Va., said states need to look at the bigger picture.

"Regulatory agencies focus too narrowly on the harm that a single facility will do, rather than looking at the synergistic effect of all pollution sources in the area," Bulloch said. "It just gets worse and worse in these communities."

Bailey said the plant would process wastes in sealed rooms and that filters will eliminate odors. McGreevy said the plant won't store wastes outside the building.

It makes sense to locate the digester at 2500 Jackson Pike, Bailey said, because it's close to the city's sewage-treatment plant.

"You don't want to truck (the sludge) too far away from where it's generated," he said.

It's the trucks that have Clyde Miller, a homeowner and a member of the Southwest Area Commission, concerned.

"With the unloading of the trucks, you're still going to have odors," Miller said. "I just don't see that we need more smells down there."And a draft permit for the facility, which would convert the waste into a burnable gas, would allow for more than 40 tons of air-pollution emissions every year.

But officials with Schmack BioEnergy and partner Kurtz Bros. Inc., each based in the Cleveland area, say the plant, to be built at 2500 Jackson Pike, won't stink.

South Side residents, who already live with a host of industrial smells, say they are wary.

"It seems like every time there's something that has the possibility of creating odor, they stick it in this area," said Teresa Mills, a Grove City resident and leader of the Buckeye Environmental Network.

"If this is going to be such a great facility, why don't they stick it in Worthington?"

The facility would use bacteria to digest 40,000 tons of waste a year to create methane that would be burned to make electricity.

"If we have leaks and we're losing biogas, we're losing our profit," said Bruce Bailey, Schmack's vice president of technical affairs. "There really is an economic incentive for us not to cause odors."

Residents and others can attend a public hearing on Tuesday hosted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The plant has applied for a state permit that would limit air pollution and odors.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Columbus Metropolitan Library branch located at 3540 S. High St.

"The steps they are taking should minimize any odors that come out of the process," said John McGreevy, an air-permits and compliance specialist in the Ohio EPA's Central District office.

Bailey said the plant would use a series of enclosed tanks to process 25,000 tons of sewage sludge and 15,000 tons of food waste and restaurant grease every year.

The gas burned would create as much as 1.5 megawatts of electricity per hour.

The plant's draft permit allows for emissions of as much as 23.8 tons of sulfur dioxide and 20.8 tons of nitrogen oxide each year. Both pollutants contribute to smog and airborne soot.

Kurtz Bros. opened a similar plant in Akron a year ago.

Officials with the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District said they have not received any complaints.

Mills and other advocates say there already is enough pollution created by South Side industries, including the city's Jackson Pike sewage-treatment plant, the Sanimax rendering plant, the Columbus Steel Castings foundry and a Groveport composting facility run by Kurtz Bros.

Those sites have been the subject of odor complaints in recent years. Ohio EPA officials have logged 32 complaints about the foundry since January 2008, and three complaints about the rendering plant.

There were no complaints about the composting facility last year.

Moira Bulloch, spokeswoman for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an advocacy group based in Falls Church, Va., said states need to look at the bigger picture.

"Regulatory agencies focus too narrowly on the harm that a single facility will do, rather than looking at the synergistic effect of all pollution sources in the area," Bulloch said. "It just gets worse and worse in these communities."

Bailey said the plant would process wastes in sealed rooms and that filters will eliminate odors. McGreevy said the plant won't store wastes outside the building.

It makes sense to locate the digester at 2500 Jackson Pike, Bailey said, because it's close to the city's sewage-treatment plant.

"You don't want to truck (the sludge) too far away from where it's generated," he said.

It's the trucks that have Clyde Miller, a homeowner and a member of the Southwest Area Commission, concerned.

"With the unloading of the trucks, you're still going to have odors," Miller said. "I just don't see that we need more smells down there."

Fowl stench forces Govt to buy land

The odour from the remains of millions of dead birds buried on the New South Wales central coast has forced the State Government to buy a local property.

The birds were slaughtered during the 1999 Newcastle disease outbreak on Mangrove Mountain.

Three large burial pits were created in the district to bury the carcasses.

Since then problems have emerged with one of the sites, forcing a family to move out of their new home.

The Department of Primary Industries has acquired the property, after detecting abnormal methane gas levels near a pit containing feathers and manure.

Local resident Margaret Pontifex is concerned about the impact on the environment, including the local water catchment.

"There were too many unknowns and there still is too many unknowns," she said.

The department says there is no evidence of contamination and environmental monitoring is ongoing.