Ohio ranks No. 5 nationally for per capita landfill trash, analysis shows

Ohio ranks fifth in the nation in terms of trash stored in landfills on a per-capita basis, according to an analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data released last week by a company based on Long Island, N.Y.

Michigan is No. 1, followed by Indiana, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, results show.

The analysis was done by IT Asset Management Group of Farmingdale, N.Y., a company associated with software disposal and the electronics recycling industry.

By pulling data from the U.S. EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program and population numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, it came up with a state-bystate breakdown for buried trash on a per capita basis. It did not drill down more specifically than that.

Ohio was found to have 53.8 tons of waste per capita and 632.2 million tons of waste in landfills overall. The state’s per capita value is 35.6% above the national average, which is 39.7 tons of waste in landfills per capita, according to the group’s generated numbers.

Michigan was found to have 68.3 tons of waste per capita and 685 tons of waste in landfills overall. That state’s per capita value is 72.1% above the national average.

While the numbers reflect some of the everyday habits and recycling efforts that Americans make to minimize their use of landfills, the data also takes into account large volumes of out-of-state waste that states like Michigan and Ohio accept.

The Interstate Commerce Clause forbids states from closing borders to out-ofstate waste when haulers identify landfills with tipping fees low enough to justify long trips.

One site in northwest Ohio that has drawn a lot of controversy for out-ofstate waste accepted in recent years is the one near Fostoria operated by WIN Waste Innovations of Seneca County, still often called by its former name, Sunny Farms Landfill.

Much of its waste comes from the East Coast.

It takes in virtually anything that meets the legal definition of being nontoxic, nonhazardous, and noninfectious. Most of it arrives in trains via the Fostoria-to-Columbus CSX Transportation railroad track that runs along the landfill’s eastern edge.

Its permit allows for up to 7,500 tons of trash daily from all sources.

Hundreds, many of them elected officials, have been at odds with the site’s owner-operator, New Hampshire-based WIN Waste Innovations, despite huge investments it has made in the site since acquiring it in 2021.

The site was developed as a landfill back in 1970.

“Not only does Ohio rank fifth in per capita landfill waste, but Seneca County houses one of the largest landfills in the state,” Erika Handru, Seneca County General Health District spokesman, said.

She added that the Seneca County Board of Health Meeting unanimously agreed at a special meeting Thursday morning to establish a Landfill Oversight and Compliance Division “to provide a more comprehensive approach to inspecting and monitoring our local landfill.”

“This will help ensure compliance with safety regulations to protect the residents and environment of Seneca County,” Handru said.

Spokesmen for WIN Waste have said multiple times in the past they are in full compliance with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency regulations

Valerie Wunder, a WIN Waste spokesman, said the company had no response to the Long Island group’s analysis because it “can’t respond to unverified surveys when we don’t have a way to validate the data.”

Bryant Somerville, an Ohio EPA spokesman, said Ohio’s No. 5 ranking appears to speak “more to past waste disposal practices and Ohio’s history as a large industrial state.”

He also questioned if the group was using the proper U.S. EPA data for its analysis, and said that reporting for the methane database “is voluntary, so it’s hard to know if what’s been submitted accurately reflects all landfills across the entire nation.”