The operators of Newby Island landfill have been ordered to take action over odours

Milpitas, an affluent city in California's Silicon Valley tech hub, has an odour problem.

For decades, residents have had to endure rank smells wafting from industrial sites, among them a 342-acre landfill.

"When I first moved here, I could not open my window for over 10 years," says Chia-Ling Kong, an engineer for a tech firm who lives around half a mile from the dump.

While things have got better in recent years, Kong says she and her neighbours must still contend with around "two or three hours of bad smells a day".

Perhaps befitting Silicon Valley, the community is putting its hopes in technology.

The operators of Newby Island landfill have been ordered by local authorities to use drones and install monitors to systematically track and measure the chemicals responsible for bad odours. They have also been told to automate the collection of landfill gases responsible for smells.

Kong is optimistic a data-driven approach will make a difference. "Hopefully with this continuous monitoring, it makes it easier to pinpoint problems at the moment it starts."

The operators of the landfill say they are committed to operating it safely and protecting air quality.

Just like in Milpitas, where Kong is part of a citizen's campaign against the odours, communities around the world are raising a stink about bad smells making day-to-day life miserable. Sometimes a rubbish dump is to blame, or it might be a sewage treatment works, or a reeking factory.

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