Fighting New York Imported Trash

        Four citizens groups (three in Pennsylvania, and one in
Ohio), continue their ongoing fight
with Waste Management (WMI) to stop the importing of
thousands of tons of trash from New York City, while one Ohio group is 
celebrating success. In most cases WMI is seeking to expand 
existing landfills. 

    In northern Ohio citizen activists continue the fight against WMI, while some celebrate a victory in their fight to stop the expansion of a WMI landfill. The victory to defeat expansion of the Hardy Road Landfill by the Committee Opposed to Ruining the Environment (CORE) was celebrated at a rally on June 29, 2002 
as the landfill closed. The Ohio EPA denied WMI's request for expansion in 2001. Now the landfill is closed!

    Another group is fighting the WMI American Landfill expansion proposal. Citizens Against American Landfill Expansion (CAALE) has also rallied to form Ohioans for Landfill Reform. American Landfill is one of the biggest handlers of out-of-state shipments of trash. It receives 500 truckloads of imported trash a day.

    Waste land-filled in Ohio coming from other states climbed to nearly 1.8 million tons in 2000, up from 1.5 million tons in 1999. That is equal to the amount of trash the city of Akron would collect in 31 years. Akron recently started using the American landfill after with the closing of its local landfill.

   With the closing of Fresh Kills landfill in New York City, the amount of exported trash is liable to skyrocket. In 2000 the largest amount of trash imported into
Ohio came from New York followed by Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Ohio, which has landfill space enough to last 22 years, has low tipping fees while New Jersey's fees are double and New York's are triple the Ohio rate. 

   The Ohio coalition is seeking state legislation to reform landfill rules to consider truck traffic, road repairs, property values, concentrations of landfills and impact on local communities. Contact is Vivian Baier.

    In Bucks County, Pa., the citizen battle is led by B-Pure, a community group formed in 1989 to improve environmental conditions in Bucks County. They help stop an WMI proposed incinerator and are now fighting to stop expansion of landfills.

   In Pine Grove, Pa., Concerned Local Environmental Awareness Neighbors (CLEAN) started in 2001 to stop proposed WMI landfill expansion.
Throgh their legal counsel  CLEAN has successfully forced WMI to withdraw its petition several times. The fight continues.

   In Old Forge, Pa. 1200 citizens opposed expansion of the WMI Alliance Landfill at a public meeting held at the high school. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection heard the opposition and denied the WMI proposal. The case is to be heard before the Environmental hearing Board.