Landfill needs $22 million more to comply with EPA
BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - Countywide landfill’s owner has told Wall Street it will cost another $22 million to solve odor and fire problems at the dump.
That’s on top of about $4 million Republic Services said it spent last year trying to vanquish the stench emanating from the southern Stark County landfill.
“It’s a lot of money,” said Republic’s spokesman Will Flower. But “this is an environmental issue we’ve committed to fixing.”
Republic owns the 258-acre landfill formally known as Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility.
The waste company, which had revenue of more than $3 billion last year, revealed the estimate in an April 3 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Republic believes it will cost about $22 million to comply with orders it negotiated last month with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The orders require Republic to pay a fine of more than $1 million, continue efforts to fight the odor that can be smelled miles away, close Countywide’s original 88-acre area and develop a plan to deal with fires the EPA believes are burning beneath the landfill.
The reaction of aluminum waste known as dross with liquid waste spread throughout most of the 88 acres is believed to be causing the intense heat and odors.
Republic’s filing also said that its inability to dump more waste in the 88 acres will cost it about $3.3 million this year.
Flower said Republic will try to get the generators of the aluminum dross waste to help pay for the cleanup and monitoring costs. That includes Barmet Aluminum — now part of Aleris International — and anyone who brought the aluminum scrap to Barmet’s recycling facility in Uhrichsville as far back as the 1980s. The waste was trucked from Uhrichsville to Pike Township from 1993 to 2001.
An Aleris spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - Countywide landfill’s owner has told Wall Street it will cost another $22 million to solve odor and fire problems at the dump.
That’s on top of about $4 million Republic Services said it spent last year trying to vanquish the stench emanating from the southern Stark County landfill.
“It’s a lot of money,” said Republic’s spokesman Will Flower. But “this is an environmental issue we’ve committed to fixing.”
Republic owns the 258-acre landfill formally known as Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility.
The waste company, which had revenue of more than $3 billion last year, revealed the estimate in an April 3 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Republic believes it will cost about $22 million to comply with orders it negotiated last month with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The orders require Republic to pay a fine of more than $1 million, continue efforts to fight the odor that can be smelled miles away, close Countywide’s original 88-acre area and develop a plan to deal with fires the EPA believes are burning beneath the landfill.
The reaction of aluminum waste known as dross with liquid waste spread throughout most of the 88 acres is believed to be causing the intense heat and odors.
Republic’s filing also said that its inability to dump more waste in the 88 acres will cost it about $3.3 million this year.
Flower said Republic will try to get the generators of the aluminum dross waste to help pay for the cleanup and monitoring costs. That includes Barmet Aluminum — now part of Aleris International — and anyone who brought the aluminum scrap to Barmet’s recycling facility in Uhrichsville as far back as the 1980s. The waste was trucked from Uhrichsville to Pike Township from 1993 to 2001.
An Aleris spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
