By Dawn Shoemaker

An unused industrial yard in Colorado recently found new life as (among other things) an organic-mulch storage site. The mulch was purchased by residents who could use it in gardens as a fertilizer and soil protector.

Sadly, however, a problem developed at the site that city planners had not anticipated. The mulch had an unpleasant odor; during wind storms, the odor became airborne, resulting in complaints from nearby residents and facilities.



One of those complaints came from employees at a recreational park facility. In time, the mulch storage site was removed, but the foul odor remained. The smell had apparently permeated the various structures, and was noticeable to varying degrees as soon as guests entered the park buildings.

In Las Vegas, Nev., a major hotel property had a similar problem--odors caused by unwelcome guest behaviors. Cigarette and cigar odors left behind in rooms designated as nonsmoking were a perennial problem, as were smells from guests cooking in their rooms. Apparently, some guests, especially those traveling with families, brought along hot plates so they could prepare snacks or even entire meals. The odors left behind by such food preparation were still noticeable days later.

Charlie Marinella, a product manager with U.S. Products, a manufacturer of carpet-cleaning and restoration equipment, including odor-eliminating equipment, has dealt with all of these problems and more. “Although eradicating smoke odors in hotels is not uncommon, the mulch problem was a bit unusual,” says Marinella. “But common or not, serious odor problems cannot be ‘fluffed over' with an aerosol fragrance.”

Instead, such situations call for professional odor-eliminating processes and systems, designed to handle difficult or unusual odor problems and to eliminate them permanently. But human know-how is also called for when it comes to understanding odors and selecting the proper tools and equipment to eradicate them.