Drilling at landfill could cause a stink

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - Odors from the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in southern Stark County were minimal on July 4, but might increase with upcoming drilling, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency reported Friday.

In addressing the governing board of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Solid Waste District, EPA staff member Kurt Princic said additional drilling is planned at the Pike Township landfill, which has been plagued by odors and underground fires.

The drilling, to begin on July 16, is to install devices to determine whether the landfill has slope problems that could jeopardize its mechanical systems, Princic said....Read more.

Board discusses appeal of landfill growth

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - No action was taken regarding an appeal of expansion at Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility after a 50-minute executive session by the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint solid Waste Management District board of directors.

After Friday’s meeting, Kerry Metzger, board chairman and a Tuscarawas County commissioner, said no decision was made whether to appeal the June 27 decision by the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission to grant the 170-acre expansion at the landfill in Pike Township of Stark County.

“Legal counsel basically just gave us information and if we have a basis for appeal,”Metzger said, “It was not fair to make a decision before reviewing the information....Read more.

Appeals Commission OKs landfill expansion; foes not giving up

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - The fight over the Countywide landfill’s expansion lasted nearly as long as the Iraq war.
For four years, landfill opponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. They attended weeks of hearings in Columbus. They hired environmental experts. And they filed thousands of pages in legal documents. But in the end, they couldn’t beat the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.

On Friday, board members of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District met in a closed-door session to discuss their legal options....Read more.

Waste district refuses to fund road repairs

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - For the third time, Stark County's efforts to get $147,756 to pave roads near a landfill in southern Stark County were thwarted Friday.

The governing board of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District rejected a request from the Stark County commissioners to fund the roadwork near the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.

The vote was 4-4. Five votes were needed for approval....Read more.

Board agrees to clean up diet at meetings

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

BOLIVAR - The governing body that monitors the flow of trash into one of the largest landfills in Northeast Ohio wants fewer doughnuts and more fruit.

Not in the landfill, but in their meetings....Read more.

Waste district mulls appeal of landfill expansion plan

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - The local waste district board met in private Friday to consider whether to appeal a state panel’s ruling that upholds the expansion of the Countywide landfill.

Kerry Metzger, who chairs the board of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District, declined to reveal details of the closed-door discussion.

But in reaction to the ruling, the Tuscarawas County commissioner said, “I’m very disappointed. ... I think the solid waste district had very legitimate concerns.”...Read more.

Club 3000 president: ‘We’re not giving up hope’

By NOAH BLUNDO
The Times-Reporter

COLUMBUS - The Environmental Review Appeals Commission has issued a 99-page ruling in favor of Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in a case challenging the landfill’s permit for expansion, but further appeals are in the works.

In a 3-0 decision last week, the Franklin County-based commission rejected claims by the appellants – the Stark-Wayne-Tuscarawas Joint Solid Waste District, the village of Bolivar and environmental group Club 3000 – that the Ohio EPA erred in granting an expansion permit in 2003 to the landfill, owned by Republic Services Inc. of Florida. The appellants said in their filings that problems with the engineering of Countywide and the danger of groundwater contamination should have led the EPA to deny the expansion permit....Read more.

Strickland gives Hagan brushoff on landfill fees

BY Paul Kostyu
The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS - State Rep. John Hagan isn’t holding his breath waiting to hear from Gov. Ted Strickland.

Hagan, R-Marlboro Township, is a bit peeved with the governor’s decision not to charge a 10-cent-per-ton fee on waste dumped at construction and demolition debris landfills. And, he said, a lack of action by the administration is costing senior Ohioans money on their prescription drugs.

Hagan said the waste fee is needed to monitor groundwater and protect the public. Hagan, who sponsored legislation that set standards for construction and demolition landfills, wrote Strickland in early April suggesting the governor include the fees in the state’s two-year budget. That budget, without the fee, was approved by the Legislature and signed into law last week by Strickland. It took effect Sunday....Read more.

Garbage from out of state declines

By Amy Rinard
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MILWAUKEE, WI - The amount of garbage from other states trucked to Wisconsin and dumped in landfills here declined last year, possibly the result of higher gas prices and increased market value for recyclables.

Other states, mostly Illinois and Minnesota, sent a total of 1.9 million tons of their trash to Wisconsin landfills last year, according to a new report compiled by the state Department of Natural Resources.

That was about 229,000 tons less than the 2.1 million tons of out-of-state waste dumped in Wisconsin in 2005, DNR reports show. The all-time high was 2.2 million tons in 2004. In 1990, Wisconsin took in 290,000 tons of waste from other states....Read more.