Landfill rule might keep out garbage from Cleveland
BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository
OHIO - The waste industry is trying to stop the approval of a rule that could prohibit local landfills from accepting trash from Cleveland or other Cuyahoga County cities if they don’t recycle enough.
“Anytime there’s a prohibition of waste, we are not in favor of that,” said Peggy Macenas, the regional manager of the National Solid Wastes Management Association.
The association’s lawyer sent a letter to the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District last week saying the association could file a lawsuit if the rule passes.
But Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger, a key proponent of the rule, isn’t backing down. He doesn’t like that about 75 percent of the district landfill space is being used for waste from outside the district — most of which comes from Cuyahoga and Summit counties.
“Our focus is not to help make profits for the solid waste industry,” he said. “(This) district was put together to make sure we had adequate (landfill) capacity for our citizens.”
The district’s landfill rules committee, which met Monday, is considering passing a rule that could be the first of its kind in Ohio. If approved, other waste districts in the state wouldn’t be allowed to send waste to landfills here if their average commercial/residential waste and industrial waste recycling rates over three years is less than the recycling rates in this district. The rule would not affect out-of-state waste; the U.S. Supreme Court has said local governments can’t regulate trash from other states.
Metzger, a committee member, wants the district’s attorney to research whether the rule’s effect on municipal waste contracts between the landfills and communities around Ohio would open the district to a lawsuit. After the committee’s May 5 meeting, he’s hoping to submit the rules for the full district board’s consideration by June.
In 2004, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Cuyahoga recycled about 29 percent of its residential/commercial trash and 62 percent of its industrial waste. Summit County did 16 percent of its residential/commercial and 80 percent of its industrial. Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne recycled far less — 8 percent of its residential/commercial and about half of its industrial.
However, the EPA said it didn’t include in those figures recycled waste from some companies, including the Timken Co., where the agency didn’t believe that all the waste had originated in the district. That led to a dramatic drop from 2003 numbers that say Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne recycled 18 percent of its residential/commercial and 78 percent of its industrial.
If the 2003 numbers were used, under the rule, Cuyahoga and Summit counties would no longer be allowed to send its nearly 2 million tons of waste a year here.
Pat Holland, the executive director of the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, said if the rule blocks waste from Cleveland, landfills would accept more out-of-state waste.
“If they can’t use (landfill space) for Ohio waste, they’re going to use it for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,” he said.
Macenas, said that because the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne district gets a fee for each ton of waste that’s dumped, the district would lose money to fund recycling. Also, implementing the rule would involve using unreliable recycling data, she said.
Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos, a committee member, said she wants to explore changing the rule.
“What I’m trying to do is avoid going to court,” she said.
The Canton Repository
OHIO - The waste industry is trying to stop the approval of a rule that could prohibit local landfills from accepting trash from Cleveland or other Cuyahoga County cities if they don’t recycle enough.
“Anytime there’s a prohibition of waste, we are not in favor of that,” said Peggy Macenas, the regional manager of the National Solid Wastes Management Association.
The association’s lawyer sent a letter to the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District last week saying the association could file a lawsuit if the rule passes.
But Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger, a key proponent of the rule, isn’t backing down. He doesn’t like that about 75 percent of the district landfill space is being used for waste from outside the district — most of which comes from Cuyahoga and Summit counties.
“Our focus is not to help make profits for the solid waste industry,” he said. “(This) district was put together to make sure we had adequate (landfill) capacity for our citizens.”
The district’s landfill rules committee, which met Monday, is considering passing a rule that could be the first of its kind in Ohio. If approved, other waste districts in the state wouldn’t be allowed to send waste to landfills here if their average commercial/residential waste and industrial waste recycling rates over three years is less than the recycling rates in this district. The rule would not affect out-of-state waste; the U.S. Supreme Court has said local governments can’t regulate trash from other states.
Metzger, a committee member, wants the district’s attorney to research whether the rule’s effect on municipal waste contracts between the landfills and communities around Ohio would open the district to a lawsuit. After the committee’s May 5 meeting, he’s hoping to submit the rules for the full district board’s consideration by June.
In 2004, according to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Cuyahoga recycled about 29 percent of its residential/commercial trash and 62 percent of its industrial waste. Summit County did 16 percent of its residential/commercial and 80 percent of its industrial. Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne recycled far less — 8 percent of its residential/commercial and about half of its industrial.
However, the EPA said it didn’t include in those figures recycled waste from some companies, including the Timken Co., where the agency didn’t believe that all the waste had originated in the district. That led to a dramatic drop from 2003 numbers that say Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne recycled 18 percent of its residential/commercial and 78 percent of its industrial.
If the 2003 numbers were used, under the rule, Cuyahoga and Summit counties would no longer be allowed to send its nearly 2 million tons of waste a year here.
Pat Holland, the executive director of the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, said if the rule blocks waste from Cleveland, landfills would accept more out-of-state waste.
“If they can’t use (landfill space) for Ohio waste, they’re going to use it for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,” he said.
Macenas, said that because the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne district gets a fee for each ton of waste that’s dumped, the district would lose money to fund recycling. Also, implementing the rule would involve using unreliable recycling data, she said.
Stark County Commissioner Jane Vignos, a committee member, said she wants to explore changing the rule.
“What I’m trying to do is avoid going to court,” she said.
