By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County commissioners unanimously approved a host agreement with Mahoning Landfill Inc. and the Springfield Township trustees concerning operation and future expansion of the landfill, which is on Garfield Road in that township.

The six-year agreement will help fund a new 14,000-square-foot township fire station at Middletown and Unity roads.

The Waste Management landfill has been operating for the past 29 years.

Springfield Township trustees unanimously approved the agreement Aug. 12.

The agreement among the township, the county commissioners and the county’s Solid Waste Management District calls for the landfill to pay 10 cents per ton to the county on all waste disposed of at the facility.

If the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency approves the proposed expansion, the county’s rate will rise to 25 cents a ton.

The township will receive 25 cents per ton of waste disposed of there, with an increase to 50 cents per ton beginning Jan. 1.

The township government will be permitted to dump 200 tons of waste per year, including storm and demolition debris, at the landfill without charge.

Township residents also will be able to dispose of waste there from community cleanup day once a year.

The total amount of waste the landfill can accept is 2,500 tons per day. Under the expansion proposal now before the OEPA, that figure will increase to 4,000 tons daily.

The Ohio EPA, the county board of health and the Solid Waste District have authority over the landfill, not the township trustees.

Public water-supply lines have been installed near the facility for residents in the estimated 40 homes around the landfill.

Vaulted liners are in place to protect the environment from the waste.

Dumping of infectious or hazardous waste is prohibited in the agreement.

“The main purpose of the host agreement is to try to mitigate the impacts of having the solid-waste facility here,” Lou Vega, county recycling director, told the county commissioners Thursday.

The agreement took a long time to achieve because of local opposition, said Robert Orr, township trustee chairman.

“They just don’t like landfills,” he said of some township residents.

“Landfills are very necessary,” Orr said, adding that the alternative, which is to burn trash, causes air pollution.