Complaints always prompt inspections

Local health officials say landfill operators have always complied.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
T HE SMELL. THE INSECTS. THE rodents. The health hazards.No matter the location or type of landfill, people associated with landfill operations say those are the biggest complaints they get, and every time there is a complaint, an inspection must be done.
"Inspections are typically done quarterly, but we are usually out there at least once a week," said Bob Pinti of the Warren Health Department.
He and his department are responsible for inspecting and investigating complaints at Warren Recycling Inc. on Martin Luther King Avenue, also the site of Warren Hills Landfill, a construction and demolition debris disposal facility.
"The citations we've written have been everything from minor to severe," Pinti said. "We've written them for work gloves, golf balls, basketballs, old tires, you name it."
Under Ohio Environmental Protection Agency regulations, C & amp;DD landfills are allowed to accept only materials from construction sites -- bricks, concrete, drywall, plumbing, lumber and other building materials.
Anything else is considered solid waste and must be handled by a municipal solid waste landfill.
Violations corrected
Pinti said that in every case he's cited Warren Recycling, operators have corrected the violations and paid any fines.
One of the most extreme fines incurred by the business, said spokesman Anthony DiCenso, was $100,000 for accepting cabinets from Kraftmaid. The OEPA deemed the cabinets solid waste since they came directly from the manufacturer and not from a demolition site.
"We accepted the material in 1997 and found out about two years later about the problem," he said. "If they had been sitting in a hotel somewhere that was torn down and then brought here, there would have been no problem."
Warren Recycling is also battling nearby Leavittsburg residents, who say high levels of hydrogen sulfide -- a chemical compound distinguished by a rotten-egg smell -- are responsible for health problems. The residents say the odor is coming from WRI, but officials from the OEPA and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, based in Atlanta, have conducted a number of tests in recent months and consistently found normal levels of hydrogen sulfide.
DiCenso said the testing involved geological surveys, which noted naturally occurring hydrogen sulfide in the area.
The site also was recently studied for possible fires, but none have been found.
"Is there some smoldering? Yes, there could be. Any time you have materials breaking down and decomposing you are going to have some heat given off," Pinti said.
James Dobson, an inspector with the Girard Health Department, deals with LAS Recycling Inc., which has operated as a C & amp;DD landfill off Bundy Avenue since the early 1990s.
At any landfill site, Dobson said, it's impossible to not have some degree of blowing litter or even rodents, but those types of complaints against LAS have been minimal, he said.
His inspections have turned up violations that include loads of construction debris containing everything from plastic toys and books to shoes and tires.
"The people who tear down these homes don't get them perfectly clean before they demolish them," he said. "If you drive down the road, chances are you will see more litter there than you will find in this landfill."
Dobson said he's had no problems with compliance at LAS; every citation has been immediately corrected.
"Sometimes it's as simple as someone going over, picking up the toy or tire and then putting it in a trash can, but we still have to write them up," he said.
Lordstown Construction Recovery Inc., a subsidiary of Lafarge North America, is a licensed C & amp;DD landfill on Newton Falls-Bailey Road in Lordstown.
Though the company has not yet started accepting waste, operators there are already at odds with local residents and village officials.
At public hearings, residents have cited publicity about Warren Recycling and expressed concern about possible odors and health hazards.
Village officials have filed a lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to keep LCR from beginning operations.
Tim Page, director of operations for LCR, said the company has taken every step to ensure the safety and good health of employees and nearby residents.
"EPA tests have shown that, if operated properly, a C & amp;DD landfill has no impact on the surrounding environment," he said. "Ours will be a state-of-the-art landfill that will meet all the requirements."