COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Rumpke’s landfill could soon add 240 acres to is 330-acre dump if an expansion proposal is approved.
If approved, the solid waste landfill, located on Hughes Road, would be expanded laterally and vertically. The proposal would allow officials to add 105 million cubic yards of space to the east, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ohio EPA officials will hold a public information session at 6 p.m. on Oct. 11 at the Colerain Township Community Center. Rumpke is also holding an open house on Oct. 20.
Rumpke has been in Colerain Township since 1945. Without an expansion, all the trash would have to be trucked elsewhere, according to the company. That could boost bills 20 percent, adding $34 million to the cost consumers pay.
The landfill receives 10,000 tons of waste each day, and expanding it would add 25 years of capacity, EPA officials said. Otherwise, the trash cells currently being used have another eight years left in them.
Colerain Township sued to try to stop Rumpke from growing, but lost in court in 2015.
"It was a land use case," township Administrator Geoff Milz said. "The comprehensive plan for the township didn't include an expansion of use at that site, and so it came down to our zoning."
Officials worked out a deal with Rumpke for additional taxes and fees.
"It means, through 2021, the township gets $1.25 million and an increase of 20 cents per ton on our tipping fees," Milz said. "After 2021, through the end of the life of the landfill, the township gets $1.1 million plus the tipping fee increase."
Rumpke spokeswoman Molly Yeager said she knows some people may oppose the project, but they "try to be a good neighbor."
"We try to be invisible at the property line," she said. "We hope that our neighbors can't smell us, can't hear us. We do different things to make sure that happens."
Anyone who wants to submit comments about the landfill expansion can do so by by writing to: Ohio EPA, Division of Materials and Waste Management, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216, or by email to dmwmcomments@epa.ohio.gov.
Click here to view the expansion application.
