The City of Hamilton is shutting down its central composting facility in response to an escalating stink in east Hamilton.

Area residents reported smelling something in the air early last week.

The issue stems from the composting facility on Burlington St. but city staff haven’t been able to determine what exactly is causing the smell.

The city says shutting down the facility is in the best interest of the affected residents in the area.

The compost material at the facility will be shipped offsite, a process will take up to five days.

The stench may get worse in the next few days as the compost is stirred up and loaded into trucks. Once it’s gone, odour experts will look into why the smell is seeping into the city.

As of Monday, no new organic material is being accepted at the site.

Operations at the facility won’t resume until the issue has been fully addressed so Hamilton’s compost will just go into the landfill with the rest of the garbage until the odour problem is fixed. The city still wants you to keep the habit of putting compost in the green bin.

Yard waste can still be recycled at a city facility in Glanbrook, that’s why the city is asking everyone for now to separate their yard waste from their green bin waste.