The New York Organic Fertilizer Co., which cooks sludge from all over the city into fertilizer pellets, has been a long source of odors and stenches that have covered the South Bronx for years. 

The NYOFCO has formed however, alliances with some activist organizations such as, Sustainable South Bronx. These comfortable pacts have helped the organizations form groups that meet with NYOFCO officials, tour the plants, and hold regular meetings where proper practices are discussed.

But that all came to an end last December, when the city's Department of Environmental Protection stepped in. A clause in the fertilizer company's contract with DEP stipulates that it cannot share information about its internal workings without DEP's permission. Late last year, the agency apparently rescinded that permission.