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'It smells of death': North Denver residents say neighborhood stink is ruining last days of summer

Posted at 5:12 PM, Sep 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-16 17:14:56-04

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DENVER -- Several neighborhood groups in north Denver are repulsed by noxious smells lately, especially in the evening.

Many of you have reached out through Contact7 about the stinky situation.

"My mom was visiting and we were sitting outside like, ‘What the heck? What is that? It smells rank,’" said Andrew Kowalyshyn, who owns a townhome in Five Points. “Is there a dead body back here? Something's decaying.”

Kowalyshyn and his neighbor were getting ready to host an end of summer party on Saturday night.

“It’s pretty pungent,” Kowalyshyn said. “It would be unfortunate if everyone's hanging out and everyone's like, ‘I'm gonna take off because the smell is too bad.”

Kowalyshyn’s not alone.

The issue is talked about all over social media networks such as Nextdoor and Facebook.

One neighbor posted, "…this is not an over-dramatized statement. It smells of death."

"I get north Denver,” said Kowalyshyn who has lived in the area for more than 15 years. “We have smells."

But neighbors say this is different than the wretched smells often wafting over from the Purina plant and the Suncor refinery.

"Where the Purina is that kind of recognizable whatever, horse meat, whatever they're putting into their formula,” Kowalyshyn said. “You know, it's a dog food base. You can sort of smell the dog food. But, this was something really unique and just putrid."

Denver's Public Health Department was able to trace the smells back to Pepcol Manufacturing and DarPro Solutions.

The two companies recycle animal carcasses and waste and restaurant grease.

Those facilities sit in unincorporated Adams County. We reached out -- and the Tri-County Health Department says it's had no complaints, but the state would be the regulatory agency. We have not yet heard back from the state or Pepcol.

"I don't want a pitchfork scenario here," Kowalyshyn said.

Neighbors tell Denver7 they don’t want the companies to stop what they're doing. Kowalyshyn is just hoping they mitigate the stink, so it doesn't spoil the last few nights of summer.

"Do some more filtering,” he said. “Curb it a little bit. The nights where it's really bad, you literally don't want to be outside."