THE first carcasses are expected to arrive on Monday at a burial site half-a-mile from Tow Law, County Durham.
Pits on a 200-acre site at Inkerman have the capacity to take 160,000 sheep and cattle.
Gases given off by the carcasses will go through a system to lessen the risk of smell.
Villagers were shown around the site on Wednesday, but are apprehensive about its opening.
Town council chairman Jenny Flynn said last night: "There are still a lot of concerns, but the majority of people we have spoken to feel that provided it is properly constructed and we are not faced with a huge environmental disaster, then it is something that has got to be there.
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