The St. Mary’s Bay fish sauce plant problem is expected to get worse before it gets better.

Mayor Steve Ryan says the clean-up project is scheduled to start on June 29 – to avoid interrupting the high school’s exam season – and will carry on for about 3 months.

With the upcoming warmer temperatures and the movement of the rotten fish sauce, Mayor Ryan says the community is gearing up for a smelly summer.

The hazardous waste will be buried in Sunnyside’s Central Newfoundland Waste Management Facility, in a welded-closed container, and then covered with topsoil.

The waste facility doesn’t take liquids, so the fish sauce will be mixed with peat moss into a type of “soup” before being boxed up.

“Where we’re going to run into the trouble is that it’s going to be mixed here in St. Mary’s with peat moss, so it’s almost like they’ll be making a soup.” Ryan says, “because it can’t go as a liquid. Anything that’s put in the site at Sunnyside has to be a solid.”