LEAVITTSBURG Residents use ribbons to express concerns about odor and landfill

LEAVITTSBURG -- The white ribbons adorning trees near Warren Recycling Inc. symbolize clean air.
Our Lives Count, a residents group formed because of health concerns, was to tie ribbons in the area of the landfill Monday.
"When the kids had Earth Week at school, white was the color that was used for air," said Debbie Roth, group leader.
Group members have been complaining for about two years of a hydrogen sulfide stench in their neighborhoods that its members suspect is coming from the landfill.
Hydrogen sulfide is a gas that smells like rotten eggs and can be harmful at levels of high exposure for long periods.
Both the Ohio and U.S. environmental protection agencies have listed the company as a contributor to the odor in the area but haven't identified it as the official source.
Studies are ongoing.
Not everyone thinks Our Lives Count is dealing with the problem in the best way, she said.
"But the one common thing in the community everyone believes is that we should have clean air, that we have a right to have it," Roth said.
The ribbons are symbolic of that, she said.
The group plans to tie a couple of hundred ribbons around town.