Officials in St. Mary's, Newfoundland and Labrador, are cleaning up an abandoned fish-sauce plant by moving waste to a landfill.

The project addresses a long-standing environmental and public health concern for the community on the Avalon Peninsula. For years, the site has emitted a hazardous and foul stench due to rotting fish sauce that remained after the facility closed without proper decontamination.

The plant has been abandoned for approximately 25 years [1]. The cleanup effort focuses on the removal of 110 vats of fish sauce [1]. To transport the waste from the site at St. Mary's Bay to a landfill, officials estimate the process will require about 200 trips [1].

Workers will use standard-sized dump trucks to move the material [1]. The decision to implement the cleanup in 2024 followed sustained pressure from local residents who have lived with the odors for decades.

Mayor Steve Ryan has been involved in the efforts to resolve the issue. The site's location near the coast made the persistent smell a defining characteristic of the area for a generation of residents. By removing the source of the odor, the town aims to eliminate the hazardous conditions associated with the decaying organic matter.

“The plant has been abandoned for approximately 25 years.”

The removal of the fish-sauce vats represents the resolution of a decades-old industrial failure where a facility was shuttered without adhering to environmental decontamination standards. This case highlights the long-term burden placed on small municipalities to manage industrial waste when original owners abandon their sites.