Landfill told it took hazardous shipment
PIKE TWP - A Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility official said Wednesday he has been notified that “a nonacceptable material” was erroneously shipped to the landfill for disposal on Sept. 11.
Tim Vandersall, Countywide general manager, said he received the notice from Clean Harbors in Cleveland, and is awaiting further information from the company as to what the material was and how much was shipped.
“Countywide has been assured that the material poses no risk to the community,” Vandersall said in a press release. He added that the material was classified incorrectly and unintentionally through human error, adding that it had been unknowingly processed into a filtercake by Clean Harbors and was included in a load that was shipped to Countywide.
Vandersall, contacted by telephone Wednesday night, said Clean Harbors did not provide the name of the waste and said a filtercake is a process waste, not of a certain size. He said a lot of things could be classified as nonacceptable material, and that the material that was erroneously shipped to Countywide could be labeled as hazardous.
But he added there is no risk to any person or the environment from it. Vandersall, in the news release, stressed that Countywide is working with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Stark County Health Department to review the disposal of the material and officials voluntarily reported the issue to the Solid Waste District.
“Countywide RDF is waiting for additional information from the customer including changes to their process to ensure this type of mistake does not occur in the future,” Vandersall wrote. “Countywide ... will provide more information as it becomes available.”
Clean Harbors, according to its Web site, is North America’s leading provider of environmental and hazardous waste management services. Headquartered in Norwell, Mass., Clean Harbors has more than 100 locations throughout North America in 37 U.S. states, six Canadian provinces, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
