New Jersey’s best and worst smells

Somebody on Reddit was trashing New Jersey for, among other things, how bad it smells.

Now, I’m not going to deny that there are parts of the Garden State that smell better than others, but certainly, the whole state doesn’t reek. I put the call out for New Jerseyans’ votes for the best and worst-smelling parts of the state.

First, the bad ones.

I started out by voting for the 195/295 junction in Mercer County. I pass that interchange twice a day, and man, does it smell awful. From listeners I learned that it is the Hamilton waste treatment facility that may be waiting for a filter that’s on backorder. I don’t know if that’s the reason, all I know is that it is rancid.

Other places called out for their awful smell include Florence, but not because of anything on the Jersey side; apparently there is a landfill on the Pennsylvania side, and the odor wafts over. It was reported that is quite noticeable on 295.

Another locale that was nominated was a section of Camden that it is near a sewage treatment plant that emits a stench that is experienced for blocks and blocks around.

Port Newark was mentioned by another caller who said the combination of a landfill, treatment facility, and bay means you get hit from all sides with the stink.

Finally, we had a caller who nominated virtually every bay in New Jersey at low tide.

Noticeably absent was the section of the Turnpike that travels next to the big refineries, or any part of the Turnpike at all. Not even the marshes of the Meadowlands.

How about the good-smelling places?

One that came up more than once was the area of Cherry Hill near the Melitta coffee roasting plant. Apparently, that smell is fortunately also noticeable from 295.

The good smells from the Nestle plant in Freehold was singled out for praise as was the Mars M&M factory in Hackettstown. How can you go wrong with M&Ms?

Also, a fragrance production facility in Keyport was suggested, although the caller cautioned that not everyone agreed that the smell was good.

And a woman from Pt. Pleasant Borough insisted that there are no bad smells at the Jersey Shore, only reassuringly pleasant ones.

What smells were missed (I’m assuming that there are a lot)?

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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