If you live in the villages of St. Bernard or Elmwood Place, you may have noticed that recently things haven't smelled particularly great.The smell is coming from a waste facility off Vine Street owned by the company Synthica. A ccording to the company's website, the facility converts pre-consumer food and industrial organic waste into renewable natural gas.Last week the company put out a statement saying a tank leak at the facility resulted in a release of wastewater. In their statement, the company said the material was nonhazardous and contained within the facility.However the smell has lingered over residents in St. Bernard and the neighboring Village of Elmwood Place.We spoke to Elmwood Place resident Tom Swafford about it Wednesday."It went from smelling like kind of a chemical smell to more of a waste kind of smell," Swafford said.Hear what officials said is causing the foul smell in the video below: Waste facility leak leaves residents dealing with odorSwafford said he can smell the odor from his house and said he's noticed it for about a month.He said he initially thought there was a gas leak in his neighborhood, but has since learned the smell was coming from the waste facility."Almost kind of like a mix of garbage and sewage in a way," Swafford said.We reached out to Synthica to learn more about the leak.A spokesperson told us there's no longer a leak in the tank and that the wastewater has been drained from it. They said the company is looking at alternative measures to mitigate the smell, including conducting a study for more comprehensive mitigation measures.The company spokesperson did not have a timeline for how long it will be until the smell is gone, but said they are going to continue to work on solutions to the problem.According to the initial statement released by Synthica, the Ohio EPA and Metropolitan Sewer District have been on-site to review those efforts.The fact that they called the EPA out here makes you concerned of whats kind of in the air, if it could be problems now or even years down the line," Swafford said.We also spoke to Mark Wendling, the director of public safety and service with the village of St. Bernard. He said the village is working with Synthica officials to mitigate the smell.Alex Null wants to hear from you. You can contact him here:He said village officials first started noticing an offensive odor from the Synthica plant in late fall of 2025.Wendling said there are no ongoing health or safety concerns for the public.He said that Synthica stated to the village that their goal is to get the plant fully commissioned over the next six weeks.Wendling said the problem will be discussed at a public village council meeting at 7 p.m Jan. 22. He said Synthica officials will be in attendance.As for residents like Swafford, he said he's hoping for transparency throughout the whole process.Please just keep us up to date, regardless of if it looks bad or not," Swafford said. "The public just needs to know what it is." ...read more read less