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Thursday, February 17, 2005

Env't. - More on blue bag waste site in Northwest Indiana

There may be more to learn about the blue bag waste site in Northwest Indiana where waste from Chicago is disposed, according to another story today in the Chicago Tribune by reporters Laurie Cohen and Dan Mihalopoulos. Some quotes:

The northwest Indiana farm that receives truckloads of waste from Chicago's blue bag recycling centers accepted six times more of the material than it reported spreading on its fields, records show.

Indiana authorities said this week that they are looking into the discrepancy and trying to determine whether the farm's operator is dumping more of the material on his fields than is allowed.

The questions center on Back 2 Basics of Indiana, a facility that plays a crucial role in Chicago's controversial blue bag program.

Chicago shipped more than 145,000 tons of screened yard waste--grass clippings mixed with pencils, pens, plastic shards and other garbage fragments--from recycling centers to Back 2 Basics between February 2003 and November 2004, city records show.

But Back 2 Basics reported dumping only about 24,000 tons at farmland near Lowell, 30 miles south of Gary, during that same period, according to a Tribune analysis of the company's filings with Indiana regulators.

"That does appear to be a discrepancy," said Bruce Palin, a deputy assistant commissioner for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in Indianapolis. "That's an issue we're looking into." * * *

Palin said his agency became concerned after reading a Tribune story last month that described how much of the material is shipped to Back 2 Basics.

Indiana officials contacted Chicago's Streets and Sanitation Department, which provided the figures. A Streets and Sanitation spokesman said the numbers reported in the Tribune were accurate.

Palin declined to say whether receiving so much of the Chicago material would put Sanko in violation of his state-issued permit. Sanko's state permit limits the amount of nitrogen and pollutants such as lead that he is allowed to spread on his fields.

Palin also declined to comment on what penalties [operator Nathan] Sanko might face for inaccurate reporting.

Officials in Lake County, Ind., recently accused Back 2 Basics of operating without proper zoning. That issue will be decided in court. * * *

Dan McInerny [of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP], a lawyer for Sanko, said he spoke to Indiana regulators Wednesday, telling them that the screened waste is vegetative matter. McInerny said he did not know how Sanko disposes of the material after it is composted.

An Indiana inspector visited the site in 2000 and found the material studded with "pencils, ballpoint pen barrels, garter snaps, hairpins, pop can pull tabs, nuts, bolts, screws, candy wrappers, plastic spoons and forks, straws, etc." In an interview in December, Sanko said the material is only 40 percent to 50 percent organic.

For background, see these ILB entries from Jan. 13th and Jan. 14th.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 17, 2005 04:15 PM
Posted to Environment