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submitted 18 hours ago by sundray@lemmus.org to c/til@lemmy.world

I saw this article at BoingBoing, and had to look it up.

From Wikipedia:

The Aroma of Tacoma, also known as the Tacoma Aroma, is a putrid and unpleasant odor associated with Tacoma, Washington, United States.[1] The smell has been described as similar to the odor of rotten eggs.[2] The odor is not noticeable throughout the city, but is rather concentrated in the Tacoma tideflats and is frequently smelled by motorists traveling that section of Interstate 5.[2]

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[-] Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world 58 points 17 hours ago

If you've ever been near a paper plant, then you'd understand the horrible smell.

Driving through that stretch is such a shock if you're not ready for it. It smells like cooking fish and broccoli in a microwave to me. Rotton broccoli fart smell.

[-] gramie@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 hours ago

Saint John, New Brunswick also used to have a terrible smell from the pulp mill. Last time I was there I didn't notice it, so maybe they have cleaned it up.

It's specific to chemicals used in the Kraft process for making wood pulp. Other Mills might use at different process, with their own issues (like SO~2~ gas).

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Decayed broccoli fart

[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 10 points 16 hours ago

That is part of it, also the Puget Sound is kinda like pushing everything to the south with the weather and the tides.

Thankfully it's better these days. It was absolutely dreadful in the 70s and 80s

this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
183 points (100.0% liked)

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