Landfill response plan criticized

BY Paul Kostyu
The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS - Do you know whom to call in case of an emergency?

Apparently, the operators of the Countywide landfill in Pike Township don't. They put a wrong number in the emergency response plan they submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

Not only was the number wrong for the Stark County Emergency Management Agency, but the EPA found other problems with the 32-page plan submitted in late May.

The state released its analysis of the plan last week. Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility has until Tuesday to revise the document. The plan is a requirement under orders issued in March in the aftermath of two underground fires and severe odor problems at the landfill....Read more.

EPA sets landfill-fund criteria

The Canton Repository

COLUMBUS - The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has set criteria for distributing money out of a fund related to problems at the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility.

Under an order from the agency in March, Countywide agreed to pay more than a $1 million fine, after odors from the Pike Township landfill affected hundreds of residents in the area. Of that money, $250,000 will go into a Community Benefit Fund....Read more.

Project funds available through EPA

The Times-Reporter

COLUMBUS - Chris Korleski, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, has established guidelines for considering projects that seek money from the $250,000 Community Benefit Project Fund established as part of the agreement between Ohio EPA and Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility in East Sparta.

A release from Ohio EPA spokesman Mike Settles states projects should benefit the most people possible and promote the welfare of the community as a whole. Projects also can receive special consideration if they reflect an investment in the future of the area, are endorsed by local governments, focus on environmental improvements or focus on education programs....Read more.

War on scrap tires costly but effective

By Gavin Off
The Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS - Since 1998, the state has spent more than $27 million to clean up more than 41 million illegal scrap tires.

While some companies have paid for cleanups, many leave the tab for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In nine years, the agency has had to do a lot of the work itself and has recouped costs from only one company responsible for piles of tires that threaten the environment and public health.

"Cost recovery is very difficult," said Chris Newman, scrap-tire program coordinator for Region 5 of the U.S. EPA. "It is something a lot of states have wrangled with."...Read more.

Waste management adopts mission statement

By BARB LIMBACHER
The Times-Reporter

BOLIVAR - The Stark- Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District board of directors has adopted a mission statement for the district as recommended by the district’s policy committee.

The statement, adopted at the meeting Friday, is as follows: to assure safe and sanitary disposal of solid waste for district residents and reduce reusable or renewable wastes from entering landfills within the district. This will be accomplished through the development of residential and industrial programs that educate, promote, provide, implement and improve recycling opportunities that will preserve landfill space now and into the future....Read more.