Tuesday, January 17, 2006

 

Ohio landfills are magnets for other states' trash

WLWT NBC-TV5 Cincinnati
Jan. 17, 2006

COLUMBUS - Ohio is becoming a bigger magnet for trash from other states.

The state Environmental Protection Agency said in 2004, almost 15 percent of the garbage going into Ohio landfills was from out of state. About 3.2 million tons of solid waste flowed in from outside Ohio's borders, compared with 1.1 million in 1996.

That's almost as much trash as the state was importing in the late 1980s, when the issue sparked outrage.

Jack Shaner with the Ohio Environmental Council in Columbus said now it seems that most people just don't care.

Not that the state can do much about the traveling trash anyway: It can't be banned or limited, because it's protected by the Constitution as interstate commerce.