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Ohio EPA grants permit to keep Poland landfill active for 80 more years
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YOUNGSTOWN
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued a permit to double the capacity of the Carbon- Limestone Landfill in Poland Township.
The permit, issued Friday, will add about 50 years of active life to the State Line Road landfill, allowing it to accept waste for 80 more years.
Without the expansion permit, the landfill would have remained active for 30 more years at the present rate of dumping.
The landfill, which is owned and operated by Republic Services, began accepting waste in 1963. More than 1 million tons of waste are deposited into it annually.
The permit allows the landfill to expand laterally by 73 acres and expand vertically over 264 acres of existing landfill, allowing for an additional 47 million cubic yards of capacity. That equates to about an 85-foot height increase.
“We will stay in that same approximate area for many, many years to come,” said Mike Heher, landfill manager.
Thirty-six Republic employees work at the landfill, and an additional 12 people at the landfill work for Energy Development Inc., which operates an electric power plant fueled by methane produced by decomposition of garbage in the landfill.
In addition, 70 garbage- truck drivers employed by Republic dump waste daily at the landfill, Heher said.
The issuance of the expansion permit means Republic will continue to provide free curbside recycling to 90,000 Mahoning County homes for 80 more years under Republic’s agreement with the county, Heher said.
The maximum amount of waste the landfill can receive under the state permit will stay at 11,000 tons per day, according to Mike Settles, an Ohio EPA spokesman.
However, Republic’s contract with Poland Township and Mahoning County limits the landfill’s waste acceptance to 6,500 tons daily, Heher said.
The Ohio EPA also has authorized construction of a passive drainage system accompanying the expansion, and Heher said construction of that system now will begin.
That drainage system will use a moat around the landfill and two 5-acre sedimentation lakes to keep rainwater and groundwater away from the garbage to avoid water contamination.
Unlike the current drainage system, the passive system will require no pumps, Heher explained.
The new system also will provide wetlands and wildlife habitat, Heher added.
No objections were expressed to the landfill’s growth at a Nov. 15 public hearing on the expansion at the Poland Township Administration Building.
But anyone who objects has 30 days from last Friday to appeal to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission, which can be reached at 614-466-8950.
Carbon-Limestone accepts household, commercial and industrial garbage and construction and demolition debris, but it takes no hazardous waste and no asbestos.
It takes no medical waste that hasn’t been sterilized or incinerated.