Dive Brief:
- Rumpke Waste & Recycling and Colerain Township, OH trustees are back in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court over the company's request to expand its sanitary landfill eastward by 206 acres. The request was originally denied in 2006.
- The 340-acre landfill serves the city of Cincinnati and many of its suburbs. In 2012, the trustees won a fight that went to the Ohio Supreme Court, fending off Rumpke's attempt to have itself classified as a utility, which would have exempted it from local zoning regulations.
- In August 2014, trustees rejected a settlement offer that would give Rumpke the zoning change it needs to expand, while paying the township $1.5 million annually and 25 cents per ton in addition to the 45 cents per ton it now pays.
Dive Insight:
Residents have complained about odors coming from the landfill, as well as damage to roads from heavy trucks. "I consider Rumpke a necessary evil," said resident Harry Patterson, who understands the value of the landfill, but also does not want to see it expanded.
Rumpke spokeswoman Amanda Pratt said the landfill — which receives 6,000 tons of trash per day and is permitted to take in up to 10,000 tons per day — will run out of space in 12 years without an expansion, and 30 years with the expansion. Pratt told the Enquirer the landfill is an "essential resource" for the region and is vital to "public health."
Similar landfill expansions are being opposed in many places, including the Finger Lakes region of New York, and Lower Saucon Township, PA.
