Officials want to expand Franklin County’s landfill to last until 2068. “It gives us the ability to maximize the land,” said Scott Perry, operations and maintenance director for the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, made up of 41 local governments.
The landfill, open since 1984, takes in about 4,000 tons of trash per day. At that rate, without the proposed expansion, the landfill would be full in 21 years in 2038. With the expansion, it could last another 30 years until 2068. The proposed landfill expansion of 50.7 acres among several steps in a plan to ensure that the public won’t have to pay $100 million or more for a new landfill anytime soon.
“What we’re about,” SWACO director Ty Marsh said, “is public health and safety, ensuring that we dispose of the waste within Franklin County in a way that’s environmentally and financially responsible.”
The landfill technically is 535 acres but SWACO currently has permission from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to use just 283 acres of it for waste. Now, the authority is asking the EPA for permission to use more of the area.
While SWACO owns land to the west and north of the existing landfill, the expansion would remain within the current triangle of property in Jackson Township — London-Groveport Road on the north, Interstate 71 to the south and east and Young Road to the west — where waste is now dumped. This expansion originally was approved in 1997, but a decade later, it was held up because the Ohio Department of Transportation considered using some of the land for a new interchange from I-71 onto London-Groveport Road.
Because the interchange was built differently than originally expected, it didn’t take landfill property. Now, SWACO now wants to use that property, immediately south of London-Groveport Road, for the planned expansion and a new approval is needed. “We are not using virgin ground,” Perry said.
“We feel very good about going to the public … about this,” Marsh said. Along with the expansion, Marsh said, recycling to keep waste out of the landfill is paramount to extending its life. “We’ve got a big initiative coming down the pike on recycling,” he said.
Not only will recycling keep some waste out of the landfill, Marsh believes some of the recyclables can be sold and make millions for SWACO. Of the waste going into the landfill, Marsh said 60 percent comes from businesses. Because of that, SWACO will make a special effort to educate businesses about recycling. “We want to try to divert it before it gets into the (waste) stream.” Marsh said.
Grove City Mayor Richard “Ike” Stage supports the landfill expansion, but insists it shouldn’t be ugly or smelly. “The concern always is what it will look like, as you come up I-71 particularly,” Stage said.
To read the full story, visit http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170407/expansion-would-help-franklin-county-landfill-take-trash-until-2068.