![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01C-bradford-stench.jpg\")
A protest outside the P Waddington premises in Bradford. Photograph courtesy of Waddington Action Group<\/p>\nA protest outside the P Waddington premises in Bradford. Photograph courtesy of Waddington Action Group<\/p>\n
People near the P Waddington animal carcass processing plant paid for their own analysis of ash deposits nearby \u2014 and say the council must step in<\/p>\n
![\"Weronika](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Weronika-Strzyzynska-1024x1024.png\")
<\/p>\n
Bradford<\/a> residents have discovered potentially dangerous chemicals in the dust settling in their businesses and gardens outside an animal carcass processing facility, less than a mile from the city centre.<\/p>\n Now they say the council should step in and revoke the environmental permit that allows the P Waddington plant to operate.<\/p>\n Rahan Khan, who runs a car bodyshop business across the street from the factory, said he first noticed a sticky yellow dust falling onto his freshly painted cars about four years ago. After failing to gain support from the council or the processing plant, he decided to pay out of his own pocket for laboratory testing of the ash, first in 2024 and then again in July.<\/p>\n The results showed a high content of ammonium iron sulfate, a corrosive substance that may cause irritation upon contact.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it looks like it is snowing,\u201d said Khan.<\/p>\n \u201cSeventeen years ago, when I started the business, it was not that bad. The smell was neither here nor there. Now, it is unbearable. Sometimes, I have to spit the stench out of my mouth. Customers hate it because they know the work is good from me, but they don\u2019t want to visit me because they\u2019re scared of the factory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The plant has been processing animal by-products in Bradford since 1998. It was about five years ago, Khan said, that the foul odour produced at the site intensified and the ash began to appear \u2014 around the time that it was sold to another company, JG Pears, in 2020.<\/p>\n Since then, he said, footfall at his business has dropped. \u201cOnly the people who know me, who got referred to me, still come,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know my work is good and they won\u2019t get the same quality anywhere else but they can\u2019t stand the smell. They drop off the keys and run.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hyphen showed the lab results to Ana-Catarina Pinho-Gomes<\/a>, an air pollution expert and clinical lecturer in public health medicine at University College London.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe presence of the ash is very concerning,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the ash is settling on those cars, it is very likely getting into people\u2019s airways. That\u2019s where it will cause inflammation and long-term adverse consequences, like cardiovascular diseases.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n She added that the ash could be especially dangerous for children. \u201cChildren are smaller so the same amount of ashes will be a lot more concentrated for them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe evidence has shown that exposure to ash like this can cause adverse effects on their neurological development because the brain is still maturing.\u201d<\/p>\n P Waddington is one of eight processing plants in Britain authorised to deal with the most high-risk materials, including the carcasses of animals carrying dangerous infectious diseases. It is just a few hundred yards from Eastbrook, a residential neighbourhood that is home to one of Bradford\u2019s largest Muslim populations.<\/p>\n Ummer Daraz runs a structural engineering consultancy near the plant. He also used to live nearby, but moved away two years ago as he was unable to bear the smell. He still runs a campaign for the council to investigate its air pollution and health impacts.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Waddington does is an important service,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen there is an outbreak of a disease or when the weather gets really hot, like now, and a lot of animals die, we do need a safe way to dispose of the bodies.\u201d But, he added, the service should not be performed at the expense of Bradford residents\u2019 respiratory and mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have no doubt that the stuff coming out of those chimneys is bad for people\u2019s physical and mental health,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After years of petitions and protests<\/a>, Bradford Council announced in February<\/a> that it would carry out odour and public health assessments, setting itself a deadline of this summer. However, the council could not confirm to Hyphen whether the assessments had been completed or if the results would be made publicly available. A spokesperson said: \u201cWe are carrying out our own independent tests related to emissions and air quality. These have to be carried out stringently over time. If necessary, once the tests have been completed, we will take any action we can to ensure air quality meets legal standards.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Sickening\u2019<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the odour is affecting not only Khan\u2019s business but also his health.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I am at work, I can\u2019t drink water, I can\u2019t eat,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s too sickening. I have lost 6lb in the past year because I don\u2019t eat or drink. I have lost my appetite.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not just a smell in the air. It seems to coat the back of the throat and leaves a lingering taste in the mouth. It clings to clothing and hair. It has the character of decomposing animal matter mixed with heated or burnt fat, offal and a sulphurous, sickly-sweet undertone. When the weather is hot, it is like being surrounded by a cloud of stale, decomposing organic material.\u201d<\/p>\n Although neither the council nor JG Pears have carried out assessments of the air and odour outside the processing plant, annual tests have been carried out within the P Waddington premises by air quality consultants commissioned by the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n