Landfill picking up windblown trash
BY Robert Wang
The Canton Repository
SANDY TWP - The Stark County Health Department has cited American Landfill for an environmental violation, after heavy winds Monday blew a large amount of plastic bags and other waste onto nearby roads and properties, a health official said.
Stark County Health Commissioner Bill Franks said one of his inspectors went to the landfill, shortly after someone called with a complaint around 8:30 p.m. Franks said the landfill violated a state regulation requiring it to keep waste from leaving the facility.
But Franks said state law does not give him the authority to impose any fine or penalties. He can only take further action if American Landfill doesn't comply with his department's order to clean up the mess, which was scattered for several hundred yards around Route 44 and Chapel Street SE.
American Landfill General Manager Jerry Ross said that his employees are nearly done removing the bags. While they've gotten all the bags off the ground, they were still using poles to get them off the trees, he said. Ross said he could not predict when that would be finished. Ross said he had nothing to say in response to the health department's notice of violation. But he said the scattered waste posed no environmental threat.
"Is it unsafe? No. It's litter like any other litter on the highway."
Jill VanVoorhis, the president of Citizens Against American Landfill, couldn't be reached for comment.
The Canton Repository
SANDY TWP - The Stark County Health Department has cited American Landfill for an environmental violation, after heavy winds Monday blew a large amount of plastic bags and other waste onto nearby roads and properties, a health official said.
Stark County Health Commissioner Bill Franks said one of his inspectors went to the landfill, shortly after someone called with a complaint around 8:30 p.m. Franks said the landfill violated a state regulation requiring it to keep waste from leaving the facility.
But Franks said state law does not give him the authority to impose any fine or penalties. He can only take further action if American Landfill doesn't comply with his department's order to clean up the mess, which was scattered for several hundred yards around Route 44 and Chapel Street SE.
American Landfill General Manager Jerry Ross said that his employees are nearly done removing the bags. While they've gotten all the bags off the ground, they were still using poles to get them off the trees, he said. Ross said he could not predict when that would be finished. Ross said he had nothing to say in response to the health department's notice of violation. But he said the scattered waste posed no environmental threat.
"Is it unsafe? No. It's litter like any other litter on the highway."
Jill VanVoorhis, the president of Citizens Against American Landfill, couldn't be reached for comment.
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