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Disposal of industrial waste rises significantly in Mahoning County
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
Industrial-waste disposal in Mahoning County nearly doubled in 2011, said Jim Petuch, county recycling division director.
Approximately 110,000 tons of industrial waste went to county landfills in 2011, up from 62,000 tons in 2010 and 48,000 in 2009.
The 2011 figures are not yet complete, said Petuch, who noted he was surprised by the tonnage increase.
He said he knew the 2011 figure was likely to be higher because of large quantities of contaminated soil from a turnpike project.
He suspects some of the increase in waste may be a byproduct of the natural- gas and oil drilling industry, such as drill cuttings.
“I know the fracking and drilling has contributed more waste,” Petuch said. “But I don’t know how much.”
He applauded Mahoning Landfill in Springfield Township, which late last year turned away two truckloads of naturally occurring radioactive material from drill cuttings but still has no idea where that industrial waste ended.
“I can’t track this waste,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure out where it went.”
All waste generated in Mahoning County goes to one of 24 designated facilities in eastern Ohio or western Pennsylvania.
Three of those landfills in the county take in approximately 90 percent of all county-generated solid waste.
The increased industrial- waste tonnage meant an additional $72,000 in revenue compared with 2010, based on a landfill disposal fee of $1.50.
That revenue, which helps fund the Mahoning County Board of Health’s landfill inspection and testing programs and recycling initiatives, totaled about $2.8 million in 2011.
Petuch said he hopes to further detail the increased industrial waste and find a way to reduce that figure through source reduction — not generating as much waste.
Petuch said the quick waste increase has led to a sharp decline in the county’s industrial- recycling rate, which dropped from 69 percent in 2009 to about 50 percent in 2011.
The amount of industrial recycling has remain consistent, but the additional industrial waste has led to the decreased recycling rate.
He said industrial recycling rates of above 50 percent are considered “good.”
“It’s not a negative or a positive,” said Petuch, who said many ongoing projects have contributed to the waste increases. “It’s just a fact.”
The industrial- recycling rate does not include commercial- and residential-recycling rates, the latter of which Petuch said has more than tripled since 2004.