What’s that horrible smell on I-675?

Tamika A. asks: What is the horrible smell on I-675 near the DeKalb-Clayton County line?

Tamika asks a question many have asked before in the Ellenwood area along I-675. Sometimes the smell is noticed around Anvilblock Road; other times farther south.

That, of course, is assuming it's one smell.

To start looking into the question, I went to Google to see if anyone else had aired complaints.

The first result is a forum post on city-data.com, where an Ellenwood resident begged for enlightenment in January 2015. The poster had moved to town a few months earlier and couldn't escape the scent.

“The stench is so offensive, it smells like burning silly putty, and it’s always there, if even a hint,” magusat999 wrote. “It’s hard to enjoy a meal, or just relax - the stink is always there. If I would have known I would have never moved here.”

The writer had heard there was a pet food factory in the area but couldn’t figure out if it was true. magusat999 just needed to know what was causing it, and whether it could be fixed.

Commenters suggested it could be a paper plant, a landfill or some other business.

Perusing online maps quickly turned up even more businesses that one could logically suspect of emitting an odor. One company actually makes fragrances. (Couldn’t get anyone on the phone there.)

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Kevin Chambers, spokesman for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, said the wealth of industry could be a problem in pinpointing the cause of a foul smell.

There have historically been “odor issues in that area,” Chambers said, but EPD has taken complaints and investigated without finding any properties in violation of regulations. The agency has no current complaints in the I-675 neighborhood.

But residents have smelled something bad as recently as Tuesday, according to Channel 2 Action News, which is also looking into the stench. On Wednesday, the smell was gone, for the time being at least.

So, yeah, Tamika, all of that is to say, your question has no easy answer. But Chambers said the EPD would happily investigate if residents complain: 404-362-2671.

— I am a staff writer with the AJC and a proud DeKalb County resident. To submit “Actual Factual DeKalb” questions, contact me at joshua.sharpe@ajc.com, @JoshuaWSharpe on Twitter or via the form below.