Ohio EPA orders cleanup of Cleveland facility after finding four-story debris piles

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) ordered a Cleveland facility to clean up piles of construction and demolition (C&D) debris on its site, a report by cleveland.com says.

Arco Recycling, located in East Cleveland, received a notice of violation earlier in January, a spokeswoman from the Ohio EPA says.

According to the spokeswoman, another issued another order to remove the debris within two weeks of when they received the order in the beginning of January. The company received a permit to conduct processing of C&D at the site the middle of last year, the spokeswoman says. They were then provided a best practices guide last year and they did have equipment and a permit to process the material.

The order was filed after residents complained, the report says, and the EPA determined the site was an open dump rather than a recycling facility due to the large amounts of C&D debris being held on the site and the lack of processing.

According to the report, the site is supposed to contain strictly C&D debris, mostly from demolished vacant homes. Wood, plastic, metal, concrete, brick and appliances are separated and either sold or disposed in licensed landfills.

Inspectors visited the site once last June after residential complaints and ordered the owners of Arco Recycling to draw down the piles, the report says, but still found four-story piles of debris after a recent inspection.

Arco Recycling is also undergoing emissions tests after residents complained of air emissions and noise violations.