(OHIO) The state of Ohio has relatively low dumping fees and considerable available capacity--a combination that consistently keeps it in the top five importing states in the nation. Now three northern Ohio landfills have asked the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to raise their upper limit on daily waste acceptance.

Approximately 2.5 million tons of waste, and another 2.8 million tons of construction waste, were dumped in Ohio last year, most of which headed to landfills in northeastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania border.

EPA officials have said they will likely approve the requests by the Noble Road Landfill near Shiloh and the Wyandot County Environmental Sanitary Landfill near Carey. Increased capacity for the Sunny Farms Landfill near Fostoria in Seneca County has already won approval. The state noted that as long as the landfill can handle the extra workload and poses no threat to human health or the environment, there is no reason to deny an expansion.

The landfills are looking to expand their geographic reach by using rail-hauling. Officials with Sunny Farms and the Wyandot County facility have contacted the state to discuss plans to connect the landfills to local rail lines. The Noble Road facility already takes out-of-state waste through a railyard in Mansfield.

Ohio EPA officials have tracked how much waste is brought into the state via train, an increasingly attractive alternative to trucking. At the Noble Road facility, Allied Waste Industries has filed a request to temporarily raise the daily capacity at the site from 2,000 tons a day to 4,000 tons. The state expects Allied will eventually request that the increase be made permanent. Allied also owns the Wyandot facility.

In Seneca County, the state has already increased Sunny Farms' daily limit from 2,000 tons per day to 3,000 tons. The state permit indicates it will close in less than 10 years if it continues to accept waste at that rate.

Source: Associated Press

For more information, contact the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, (614) 644-3020, www.epa.state.oh.us.