City Councilman Rod Tam is hoping a gourmet blend of microorganisms can do a monster job of ridding the air of the unpleasant odors that emanate from the city's Waimanalo Gulch landfill.

Tam, chairman of the City Council's Public Works and Economic Development Committee, added a proviso when the city's current operating budget was being hammered together, allotting up to $241,000 to be spent on a pilot project that calls for a mix of lactic acid bacteria, phototropic bacteria and yeast to be sprayed on organic materials deposited at the city landfill in Leeward O'ahu.

If all goes according to plan, the microorganism brew will be hard at work gobbling up the odor problem by the end of the year, Tam said.

"You know the flamingo pond near the entrance to the (Ho-nolulu) zoo?" Tam said. "It used to smell really bad until they began using microorganism technology. Now, the smell is virtually gone."

In addition, zoo creature droppings are collected and treated with the same technology, rendering them nearly odorless, Tam said.

He said the microorganism odor control methodology is used in a number of countries, including Korea, Egypt, India, China, Vietnam and Thailand.

Tam said it was used to combat odor problems after the tsunami that devastated portions of Thailand late last year.

Eric Takamura, who heads the city's Department of Environmental Services, said the city will try the microorganism mix on a limited basis on some of the organic materials that are disposed of at the Waimanalo Gulch landfill to determine if the technology is useful in combating odor issues there.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.