Aug 29, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. International Paper Co. is spending $10 million to reduce air pollution at its Georgetown mill, a project that also should help ease the burnt cabbage smell that generally comes from paper mills. "This will improve the odor," said J. Robert Brown, an air quality permit officer with the state department of health and environmental control. Reducing the odor will be a side benefit of the pollution controls which should be in operation by 2007. The new equipment will eliminate some of the organic compounds released into the air, helping to reduce the odor. "Some of those are what you can smell at very low levels," Brown said. But smell is subjective, so it's difficult to say if everyone will notice a reduction in the odor. "How this project will translate to people's perception of odor is unknown at this time," mill spokeswoman Stephanie Mangini said. Odor also is affected by such things as wind speed and direction, humidity and other atmospheric conditions, Brown said. Susan Libes, a chemistry professor at Coastal Carolina University, said even small amounts of certain chemicals can be detected by smell. "Your nose detects smells when they rise above some threshold concentration," Libes said. "If the concentrations are initially really high, they could be reduced by a large percentage, say 99%, but the remaining 1% could still be a concentration above the odor detection threshold and thus still be problematic." The new controls will be positive for area, Mangini said. "For us, it's a positive thing, and I think for the community, it's going to be a positive thing as well," she said. International Paper is a diversified, global company with manufacturing operations in the western hemisphere, Europe, Asia and Africa.