KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Depending on which direction the wind is blowing, the foul odor that drifts through Richard Raffaelo's neighborhood can be overpowering, according to people who reside in the quiet community off South John Young Parkway.
[WEB EXTRA: Odor evaluation report ]
"It smells like crap -- plain and simple," said Raffaelo, who has lived in the Osceola Park neighborhood for 26 years. "You walk out your door and it hits you immediately. It comes in your house and permeates all furniture, clothing, your towels."
"It smells like manure. It smells like dead flesh, dead animal," said Jim Mason, who owns the nearby All Car Shop auto repair facility. "The taste stays with you. I can get in my truck and drive home and still smell it when I get in my house."
Mason's employees claimed they have a tough time repairing cars when the garage doors are open.
"It does smell really bad," said mechanic John Cuttito. "It makes me sick to my stomach every once in a while."
Even customers like Josh Greenlees complain about the odor when they drop off their vehicles for service.
"It was pretty nauseating," he said. "It was probably the worst smell I've ever smelled."
For several years, neighbors have complained to city officials about the foul odor originating from the Affordable Bio Feedstock plant, which sits between the residential area and the auto repair shop.
"We have a problem," admitted ABF's owner, Bill Freeman. "The smell is something we never anticipated."
In 2008, ABF began an innovative process of recycling so-called "brown grease" from restaurants. The thick liquid, which contains fats, oils and food particles, is captured in traps attached to sinks and floor drains so they don't clog the restaurant's sewer lines.
Typically, brown grease is disposed of in landfills or deposited on vacant land, according to Freeman. However, using a centrifuge-like device, Freeman's company is able to separate the sludge into useful byproducts.
Besides recycling water from the mixture, ABF extracts clean grease that can be used to make biodiesel fuel. Food particles removed by ABF are shipped to companies like Walt Disney World, where the compost is later converted into methane gas to generate electricity for the resort, according to Freeman.
"No one in the state of Florida is doing what I'm doing," said Freeman, who pointed out that his company is one of only a few in the country that can recycle brown grease.
But with that new technology came unexpected odors.
"When it first started happening, we didn't know what to do," said Freeman, who acknowledged the foul smell got even worse when the company altered their recycling process about a year ago.
Prompted by citizen complaints, in March 2014 the city of Kissimmee paid $10,000 to an environmental engineering company to conduct an odor evaluation around the plant. Using a scientific instrument called a nasal ranger that measures the dilution of odors, odor control specialist Neil Webster of Webster Environmental Services tested air samples as far as a quarter-mile away from the plant.
Webster's final report concluded what ABF's neighbors already knew -- the grease recycling plant created "an odor nuisance."
"ABF seems to underestimate the impact from their facility on all neighbors, believing only one person complains," wrote Webster, who was not satisfied with the company's attempt to mask the smell with scented misters. "In general, the odor counteractants -- masking agents -- in use by ABF is not a very effective odor control."
Freeman told Webster some of the odor originates from the wastewater treatment plant that sits behind ABF. However, the engineer concluded that none of those sewage odors were detected off-site.
Following the study, Kissimmee's Development Services director, Craig Holland, gave Freeman two weeks to make improvements or the recycling plant could face fines and risk losing its permit to operate within the city.
"The plant shifted its operation to the evening, installed a filtering system and an odor-masking system," Holland said. "At the time it appeared to work."
But neighbors claim the foul stench returned almost immediately.
"They keep saying, 'We're working on it. We're doing something,'" Mason said. "And as you can smell, it (isn't) working."
Last week, the city paid Webster's company another $8,600 to conduct a follow-up odor evaluation. The results of that study are expected to be complete at the end of the month.
Meanwhile, Freeman claimed he is just weeks away from installing an expensive piece of heavy-duty equipment that he believes will neutralize the foul smells.
"I understand we have neighbors. I fully want to make them happy," he said. "I just pray we don't shoot a good thing in the foot before we have a chance to perfect it."
Mason, who said he applauds ABF's work on keeping grease out landfills, said he is running out of patience.
"He has to do something to stop the smell," Mason said. "It shouldn't be in the city limits and around houses and businesses."