Waste board meets to discuss odors
The Times-Reporter
BOLIVAR – Additional concerns about the findings and orders issued Sept. 6 by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility prompted the board of directors of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management to hold a special meeting.
The policy committee meeting was canceled Friday, and a special board meeting was held to discuss items so the Nov. 3 regular board meeting would not be so lengthy.
Countywide Recycling and Disposal Facility is located in Pike Township of Stark County, just north of Bolivar. Odors from the landfill continue to plague the region.
Kurt Princic, environmental manager for OEPA’s Twinsburg office, said agency personnel have visited the site nine times and Director Joseph Koncelik visited Countywide Friday.
“Koncelik experienced the odor and saw all the activities happening at Countywide,” Princic said.
Princic said Countywide has covered about 20 acres of the original 88 acres of the landfill with a geomembrane cover. He said the temperature in the walls of the landfill has stabilized slightly and officials are seeing a decrease in both the hydrogen gas and the decomposition of trash.
Tuscarawas County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl asked Princic if there will be a quilt all over the landfill to stop odors in the future.
“No, we think it is contained to this area,” he said. “The facility accepted aluminum dross/salt cake from the former Barmet Aluminum of Uhrichsville beginning in 1990. It gives off heat and pushed the gas out. Cells throughout the original 88 acres, in particular, took a large slug of this material into the landfill.”
“How long will the covering remain there?” Abbuhl asked.
“I can’t give you an answer until we get the odors addressed. We need to stop the odor,” Princic said. “In Countywide’s permit to install, they will be allowed to place trash on top of the original 88 acres.”
Countywide officials said about 25 acres are involved.
Contacted after the meeting, Countywide General Manager Tim Vandersal said the facility, owned by Republic Services Inc. of Ohio, accepted the dross/salt cake for 10 years but stopped accepting it in 2001. He said the cake is in cells one to four but not in the fifth. All other aluminum foundry waste accepted in small quantities was stopped in July 2006, he said.
According to OEPA, dross/salt cake is a non-hazardous material.
Tuscarawas County Commissioner Kerry Metzger said the material contains many other things, such as hydrogen, methane, acetylene and toxic ammonia and when mixed with water it will react violently.
Princic said Countywide no longer re-circulates its leachate. Instead, it is hauled from the facility. He added he is not convinced there is a fire under the surface, but said something is definitely going on.
“The best solution is to cap it, seal it up and extract as much gas as possible from the site,” he said.
“If they remove the cap and then place more waste on top, how do they know for sure what is causing the problem?” Metzger asked. “Is OEPA looking at the vertical expansion when there are issues and concerns about the stability of the landfill? The findings talk about a horizontal shift of six feet and a vertical subsidence in the original landfill.”
Princic said OEPA is looking at the current problem. He said the agency will not allow the landfill to pile more trash on top of the problem area as long as the odor problem persists. He also said there are no plans to remove the dross/salt cake.
“It will probably stay there and the landfill will have to control the emission of gas,” he said. “Countywide no longer accepts the material. We are sending a letter to all landfills to explain the problem with aluminum dross/salt cake.”
Metzger asked about the leachate oozing from the sidewall of the landfill. Princic said a berm has been placed along the slope to stop the horizontal movement.
Princic also said OEPA is using a particulate meter to measure the odors and those findings are being tested at a lab. The results will be available by the Nov. 3 meeting.
