Four stinkers that rival Sriracha factory

There are smells, and then there are smells from hell.

You know the odors we’re talking about – the meatpacker in the middle of nowhere, the sewage plant down the road.

Or the powerful, some even say painful, scents from the hot sauce factory next door.

That’s right, we’re looking at you, Sriracha hot sauce, grinder of chilies and maker of popular flavorings and, yes, as a byproduct, generator of a scent that refuses to die, a Zombie for the nostrils.

As drama unfolds in Irwindale over Sriracha’s spiced-up fumes, we sniffed around some other places in Southern California where foul air has been known to erupt – some for decades, others in passing.

SUNSHINE CANYON LANDFILL

Imagine the smell of 12,100 tons of trash trucked daily to the ironically named Sunshine Canyon Landfill.

Even after decades of trying to cut the impact on nearby residents, the San Fernando Valley operation still stinks.

Or so says Granada Hills homeowner Wayde Hunter, president of the North Valley Coalition of Concerned Citizens, a group once named “Dump the Dump.”

“It’s not like people are getting the occasional smells,” Hunter says of life near his least favorite landfill. “We’re under a constant bombardment.”

Sunshine has generated the most odor nuisance violations in the South Coast Air Quality Management District over the past five years, according to public records.

Still, Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-San Fernando Valley, extended an invitation to the Sriracha plant to relocate in his district.

It’s an idea Hunter waves off.

“Some of our residents have already called to complain to Cardenas, saying a stinking dump is enough.”