Manager says Countywide is working hard to eliminate stink

By ZACK LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA – Tim Vandersall, general manager of Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility, vowed Thursday to win the hearts – and noses – of his downwind neighbors.

“We will meet the EPA director’s deadline,” he said while navigating the muddy paths that contour and weave through the slopes of the landfill’s mountainous trash piles.

The landfill near Bolivar has been the focus of complaints for months. Residents who reside within a few miles of the facility claim that the odor is nearly unbearable....Read more.

Down on the dump

By Ross Farrow
The Lodi News-Sentinel

LODI, CALIFORNIA - As you drive east on Harney Lane past Jack Tone Road, you slowly see something that resembles a miniature version of the Egyptian pyramids.

Instead, it's the North County Recycling Center and Sanitary Landfill site, which rises 200 feet above ground level.

As a public hearing before the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors nears, ranchers who live near the North County Landfill site on Harney Lane are a little nervous that the garbage dump could be raised to an even higher elevation than it already is....Read more.

Garbage truck overturns near landfill

The Canton Repository

PIKE TWP - A dump truck carrying trash to the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility overturned Wednesday around Gracemont Street and Dueber Avenue SW, an Ohio Highway Patrol dispatcher said....Read more.

Easier said than done

The Canton Repository

CANTON TOWNSHIP - People who live within sniffing distance of the Countywide landfill may be starting to think that the only thing the Ohio EPA knows is what it doesn’t know.

At a meeting Thursday with more than 130 residents about the reeking landfill in Pike Township, officials of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency could not say how much longer it might take to rid the area of the stench they think is caused by moisture interacting with aluminum in the dump....Read more.

EPA review indicates IEL site getting cleaner

BY Edd Pritchard
The Canton Repository

LAKE TWP - Federal officials are satisfied that nature is taking the proper course in cleanup efforts at the Industrial Excess Landfill.

A five-year review shows that nine chemical compounds continue to be detected at the site, with three compounds exceeding safe drinking water levels. Methane gas levels have decreased to the point that a methane venting system no longer needs to be used....Read more.

Residents again air landfill concerns

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

CANTON TOWNSHIP – More than 100 people came Thursday to an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency information session about odors from Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in Pike Township, Stark County.

The landfill was declared a public nuisance by Joseph Koncelik, OEPA director, on Sept. 6. Landfill officials were given a Dec. 15 deadline to fix the problem. The landfill, north of Bolivar, is owned by Republic Services of Ohio.

Kurt Princic, environmental manager of the Northeast District of the OEPA, said the meeting’s attendance shows the concern of residents, and the OEPA finds the situation unacceptable....Read more.

New rules for joint waste district would limit outside counties' trash

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – The board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District approved a draft set of landfill rules during Friday’s meeting in the district office.

Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger, one of the three committee members who wrote the rules, said it took 14 months to put them together. The rules will be included in the district solid waste plan being written by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and would become effective in January 2008....Read more.

Landfill odor to get airing

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is warning other landfills in the state about the same aluminum material that is buried at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.

Its advisory, expected to be sent Monday, tells landfill operators to avoid exposing aluminum production waste to water because it can react and release toxic, flammable and potentially explosive gases.

“Unfortunately, it did take a situation here at Countywide to lead to the statewide level,” said EPA Environmental Manager Kurt Princic....Read more.

Landfill odor prompts statewide warning

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – “We have a big old science project going on here,” commented Richard Regula, Stark County commissioner and chairman of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District Board of Directors.

Regula was referring to information by Kurt Princic, environmental manager, of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency during Friday’s board meeting. Princic said the odor issue, which is believed to be caused by aluminum dross/saltcake at Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in Pike Township of Stark County, has raised a red flag for landfills throughout Ohio that accept the material....Read more.

Meeting set to discuss landfill odors

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will address the odor nuisance at Countywide landfill during a public information session Nov. 16 at 6:30 in Faircrest Memorial Middle School cafeteria at 616 Faircrest St. SW in Canton Township of Stark County.

The Ohio EPA is consulting with the federal EPA on the decomposition of aluminum dross waste, which is believed to be triggering the odor at the landfill, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry for input on potential health effects from odor exposure. Preliminary air sampling indicated the odor does not pose a public health threat but additional sampling is continuing, according to the Ohio EPA.

In September, the Ohio EPA declared Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility on Gracemont St. SW, East Sparta, just northeast of Bolivar, a public nuisance and ordered its owner-operator, Republic Services of Ohio, to implement comprehensive remedies by Dec. 15. The public session is intended to update area residents on the work completed and what needs to be done to meet the December deadline....Read more.

New rules for landfills up for debate

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

CANTON - The mounds of trash at local landfills wouldn't be able to reach to the sky.

Garbage trucks leaving the landfills would have to be washed so they would not track mud on local roads.

And trash no longer would be accepted from communities that don't recycle as much as we do.

These proposed rules and more soon may become the law for the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District....Read more.

Solid waste district discusses funding needs for deputies for litter, landfill truck routes; OEPA considering cuts, especially in Stark

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – Cutbacks for law enforcement regarding litter and trucks hauling trash in the area were discussed Friday at a special meeting of the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District.

Sheriff’s personnel from the three counties gave an update on how their district grants are used. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is writing a plan for the district, which includes the cutbacks....Read more.

Litter patrol may be reduced

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - The state is trying to reduce funding for sheriff’s deputies whose job it is to police littering and overloaded garbage trucks.

That’s why Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson spoke Friday at a meeting of the local waste district. Swanson wants the money to keep flowing.

“My big question is, the money that they do save, what are they going to do with it?” he asked....Read more.

Waste board meets to discuss odors

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – Additional concerns about the findings and orders issued Sept. 6 by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility prompted the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management to hold a special meeting.

The policy committee meeting was canceled Friday, and a special board meeting was held to discuss items so the Nov. 3 regular board meeting would not be so lengthy.

Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility is located in Pike Township of Stark County, just north of Bolivar. Odors from the landfill continue to plague the region....Read more.

Countywide Landfill odor problem about to be solved

By DOUG STALEY
The Independent

BOLIVAR - Relief could be on the way for frustrated residents impacted by the noxious odor emanating from Countywide Landfill in Pike Township.

David Held, executive director of the Stark-Tusc.-Wayne Joint Solid Waste District, said crews are installing a polyethylene liner that eventually will cover 25 acres at the landfill. District officials learned Friday at a special meeting that the project should be completed within the next 45-60 days....Read more.

Dormant landfill may be reopening

By Malcolm Hall
The Canton Repository

ALLIANCE - A dormant landfill about a mile northeast of Alliance stands to be reactivated by a New Jersey waste-disposal company that plans to acquire the Central Waste site.

The company, TransLoad America of South Orange, N.J., has cleared an Ohio attorney general background check. Central Waste landfill is about a half-mile east of Stark County in the 12000 block of Oyster Road in Mahoning County’s Smith Township....Read more.

Residents voice landfill concerns

BY BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – Concerns about stench, illness and lost business were among issues raised as about 70 people attended the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District meeting Friday.

The more than three-hour session in the district office at Wilkshire Hills focused on odors from Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility north of Bolivar and the “non-acceptable” material shipped to the landfill by Clean Harbor, an environmental service company at Cleveland....Read more.

Residents tired of landfill odor

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - With the odor problems at Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility showing no signs of going away, waste district officials and residents showed signs Friday that their patience is almost exhausted.

The Pike Township landfill’s manager, Tim Vandersall, addressed the board of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District, apologized again and repeated that his people are doing everything they can. He explained that the odor appears to be coming from aluminum waste dumped in the landfill in the 1990s....Read more.

Battle amps up: Officials take new measures in odor fight

BY BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – Legal efforts to combat odors coming from Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility received additional support Friday.

After an executive session, the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District unanimously approved two motions made by Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger....Read more.

Countywide still unsure of material

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR – Officials at Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in Stark County’s Pike Township still were awaiting word Thursday as to what “non-acceptable material” erroneously was shipped to the facility in September by a Cleveland firm.

Meanwhile, Tuscarawas Valley school officials had to take quick action at Bolivar Elementary Thursday morning to prevent the pungent odor generated by Countywide landfill, just north of Bolivar, from entering the school....Read more.

Landfill told it took hazardous shipment

COPLEY OHIO NEWSPAPERS

PIKE TWP - A Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility official said Wednesday he has been notified that “a nonacceptable material” was erroneously shipped to the landfill for disposal on Sept. 11.

Tim Vandersall, Countywide general manager, said he received the notice from Clean Harbors in Cleveland, and is awaiting further information from the company as to what the material was and how much was shipped....Read more.