Dormant landfill may be reopening
The Canton Repository
ALLIANCE - A dormant landfill about a mile northeast of Alliance stands to be reactivated by a New Jersey waste-disposal company that plans to acquire the Central Waste site.
The company, TransLoad America of South Orange, N.J., has cleared an Ohio attorney general background check. Central Waste landfill is about a half-mile east of Stark County in the 12000 block of Oyster Road in Mahoning County’s Smith Township.
“They are very well along in the process,” said Dina Pierce, an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency public relations officer. “The background report is done and the company appears to meet all the requirements. That would allow them to apply to operate the facility.”
Officials with TransLoad America in New Jersey were not available Friday for comment.
The landfill has been privately owned by an area company.
“It was never officially closed, it was dormant,” said Mary Wren-Patrony, assistant director of the Mahoning County Solid Waste Management District.
“It has been about a year since they accepted waste. I know they are going to be applying for an expansion upon ownership. I believe they are primarily going to take out-of-state (waste). Initially, they will have some local waste, but that won’t be their primary focus.”
Local government stands to get tipping and other fees. Smith Township, for example, would get 25 cents for each ton taken in.
“My feeling is an open landfill, a landfill being used, is a lot safer than one closed,” said R. Jerry Ritchie, a Smith Township trustee. “It is monitored regularly. There is a lot of hazardous material in there that those people are going to move out and put in a proper (disposal) cell.”
