Odour levels at Kazokiškės landfill reduced but source still unknown

The smell from the Kazokiškės landfill has decreased, but authorities are still searching for the exact source of the pollution, Lithuania’s Environment Minister Kastytis Žuromskas told lawmakers this week, as reported by LRT and the Baltic News Service (BNS).

Lithuania’s Environmental Protection Department (AAD) has extended a deadline for the Vilnius Regional Waste Management Centre (VAATC), which operates the landfill, to reduce hydrogen sulphide emissions. The original April 10 deadline was pushed back by two months after the centre requested more time to implement pollution control measures.

Žuromskas confirmed that waste piles at the site have been levelled and all materials brought from last year’s fire at the Energesman waste sorting plant in Vilnius have been covered. “As far as I know, the odours are no longer as strong—they have decreased—but we are still looking for the source,” the minister said in parliament.

Liberal MP Edita Rudelienė argued that the situation in Kazokiškės remains unsatisfactory for residents. “Some steps are being taken, but they seem either insufficient or not fast enough to meet the expectations of the local community,” she said.

When asked whether the landfill might be closed, Žuromskas stated that such a decision would fall to the Emergency Operations Centre in coordination with Vilnius city municipality and other local governments that use the site. “If we were to discuss closing this landfill, we would also need to determine an alternative location for waste from the entire region,” he added.

The AAD noted that the centre had proposed measures such as covering leachate pools and waste piles, leading to the extended June 10 deadline. Meanwhile, a monitoring station measuring hydrogen sulphide and ammonia emissions remains in place near the landfill despite earlier calls from Elektrėnai municipality and local residents to relocate it.

No ammonia exceedances have been recorded, but hydrogen sulphide emissions continue to be detected daily. In mid-March, inspectors found air pollution levels at the site exceeded permissible hydrogen sulphide concentrations by roughly five times during parts of the monitoring period. The VAATC was fined and ordered to reduce emissions.