Solution to landfill odor problem due today
The Canton Repository
PIKE TWP - Time’s about up for the Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility as the state-imposed deadline for the landfill to get rid of its odor problem is the end of today.
Two days before the deadline, contractors still had not completed installing a plastic cap over 30 acres of the landfill. As they worked, the nauseating odor was strong, as the wind swirled. Several gas lines snaked their way on the surface of the cap, which looked like a massive, black covering on a mountain of waste. The workers, rushing to install the cap, had not had time to bury the gas lines.
Fighting the odor
The cap, constructed over six weeks at a cost of $1.5 million, is supposed to help prevent oxygen and water from feeding odor-causing reactions involving aluminum waste from the 1990s, and help contain the smelly gases resulting from those reactions.
The landfill’s general manager, Tim Vandersall, estimated that 20 percent of the edge of the cap had not yet been sealed.
“We’re trying to do everything by Friday,” he said Wednesday. “We’re very close to nailing this thing.”
Vandersall said since people began complaining about the odor a year ago, the landfill has nearly doubled the number of gas wells it has installed to about 150. Last year, Countywide had one flare to burn off gases. It now has five and plans to set up a sixth. Landfill workers have boosted the number of deodorizer nozzles from 40 to more than 400, Vandersall said. The landfill has spent about $4 million to fight the odor, he added.
“We’ve done everything humanly possible,” said Vandersall. “There’s no way the work we’ve put in this thing won’t have a dramatic effect on the odor.”
Smell better, or worse?
At least two residents said Thursday night that they smelled some improvement.
Helen Dunbar, who lives on Sherman Church Avenue NW in Perry Township, said she hadn’t smelled the odor at her home since late November, but she said gases from the landfill were still sickening her.
Matthew Ritterbeck, 30, of Lawrence Township, near Bolivar, said he also hadn’t smelled it near his home for at least three weeks.
Others said it’s stayed the same or gotten worse.
“You smell it and you feel like you can taste it,” said Amy Zwick of Haut Street SW in Pike Township. “My kids were trying to hold their breath running down to the bus today. It was so bad.”
Michele Nicoletti, 39, of Pike Township said he didn’t smell it for three to four days, but “the last two days it’s been horrific overall. I don’t think there’s been any improvement. If anything it’s gotten a little worse. ... I think they’re trying to fix it, but I don’t think they can.”
Passing inspection
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Manager Kurt Princic said he and two of his inspectors will be sniffing the air in neighborhoods around the landfill Saturday morning to see if the odor is gone. He along with inspectors from the Canton City Health Department, which oversees air pollution complaints, plan to check for odor regularly during at least the next two weeks.
It’s still not clear what would happen if the landfill is determined to not be in compliance. EPA spokesman Mike Settles said the agency’s director, Joe Koncelik, has not committed to making a recommendation to the Stark County Board of Health on whether Countywide’s operating license should be suspended. Koncelik leaves the agency on Dec. 29. Gov.-elect Ted Strickland will appoint a new director.
“We’ll keep doing what’s necessary so everyone’s satisfied we’ve eliminated any odor issues,” said Vandersall, who added that because the aluminum waste has spread throughout the landfill, it’s not feasible to remove it. “In the next few weeks, if it’s determined we need to do more, we’ll do more.”
