EPA’s odour list helps you identify an odour – for example, odour from animals, chemicals, burning or cooking.
When you report odour to EPA, use this list to describe it.
It helps us if your odour report is as detailed as possible. This is so we can respond quickly and effectively.
Identify the odour
Cooking
- nutty/grain
- fried/oily/fatty
- coffee (burnt or roast)
- meaty (cooked or burnt)
Hydrocarbon/fuel
- gas (mercaptan)
- petrol
- bitumen/tar
- diesel
Vegetable origin
- compost/mulch (fresh)
- garlic/onion
- yeast/fermented
- cabbage (dimethyl sulphide
- seaweed
Chemical/solvent
- alcohol/medicinal
- paint thinners/spray paint (acetone)
- sour/acidic
- metallic/foundry (phenols)
- sweet (esters)
Animal origin
- tannery/skin & hides
- urine (uric acid/ammonia)
- manure (faeces)
- fishy (amines)
- livestock
- chicken/poultry
- rendering
Rotting/putrid
- garbage/rubbish
- rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide)
- organic/compost (decayed)
- sewage/septic
- milk or dairy (rancid)
- dead animal meat (rotten)
Burnt/smoky
- rubber
- plastic
- feathers/hair
- wood/woodsmoke
- waste/landfill
Read more about odour
Reviewed 25 August 2022