Will e-waste recycling take place year-round?

BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository

BOLIVAR - The pile of obsolete televisions, computers and other equipment grew quickly at Stark State College of Technology in Jackson Township.

After a three-day collection in August, the local waste district had about 20 semitruck loads of discarded electronic devices, more than double the collection of the prior year.

Reluctant to send their old monitors, printers, TVs and VCRs to the local landfill, residents waited up to an hour to dispose of the items, so the waste district could have it recycled. Cars lined up all the way up Frank Avenue NW to University Street NW. Extra people had to be called in to handle the waste....Read more.

County, landfill settle case

BY Kelli Young
The Canton Repository

SANDY TWP - Owners of a Sandy Township landfill that is higher and steeper than its approved limits have agreed to a settlement with the county health department that ensures the violations don’t happen again.

Minerva Enterprises also must pay a $48,264 civil penalty.

Kirk Norris, director of environmental health for the Stark County Health Department, said sections of the landfill at 8955 Minerva Rd. SE are “15 to 30 feet over the maximum elevation that was approved.” About 25 acres of the 110-acre landfill are being used....Read more.

Smell test

The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - In March, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ordered Republic Waste Services to extinguish underground fires fueled by a chemical reaction at its landfill in southern Stark County. The agency has in mind halting the foul odors emanating from the Countywide landfill for the past year, harming the quality of life for neighboring communities. The company presented a plan in May that called for sealing the smoldering area with a cap of clay, the fires ending in three years to six years.

As Bob Downing, a Beacon Journal staff writer, reported, the agency and the company since have engaged in a dialogue examining courses of action. Republic Waste Services has raised questions about the feasibility of injecting fire-suppressant compounds into the affected section of the landfill. A third option involves excavating the troubled area, covering 88 acres of garbage. Both the injection and excavation are more expensive than installing the cap....Read more.

Fumes at Stark landfill difficult to stop

By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal

PIKE TWP - It might be impossible to halt through chemical injection the reaction behind smoldering underground fires at a Stark County landfill.

Preliminary research conducted by landfill owner Republic Waste Services of Ohio indicates that none of five compounds tested in a laboratory would halt the chemical reactions taking place inside the 258-acre Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility in Pike Township.

Shaw Environmental Inc., at its New Jersey laboratory, tested three compounds magnesium chloride, sodium silicate and sodium phosphate, all salt-like materials and two commercially available products FirstStrike mine firefighting foam and FlameOut concentrate.

''None of the compounds tested had an effect in controlling or suppressing the aluminum reaction,'' landfill manager Tim Vandersall said in a July 10 letter....Read more.