By Crystal Ingram — ANDERSON — The “Open to the Public” sign at Mallard Lake Landfill drew the ire and frustration of some Madison County residents this weekend.
Dick Gooding owns a home near Mallard Lake in Richland Township and is a member of the Killbuck Concerned Citizens Association that was formed in opposition to the landfill.
Gooding noticed the sign on the fence stating the landfill was open. “(Ralph Reed, owner of JM Corp.) does not have a permit,” he said Monday.
What Gooding did not realize was that the company was collecting household garbage in an effort to comply with new legislation requirements.
Gooding then added that the new laws are more stringent.
“Mr. Reed is angry with the new legislation and they (the Reeds) have been mad at me for 28 years,” Gooding said.
“We have not accepted any waste for final disposal at this facility,” Mark Reed, president of J.M. Corp., said. J.M. Corp. proposed the Mallard Lake Landfill in 1978.
However, from Saturday through Monday, J.M. Corp. did open the land to the public for waste disposal under the company name of Mallard Lake Landfill Collection Container System.
Mallard Lake Landfill Collection Container System operated long enough to fill two Dumpsters on site with bagged household waste. The two Dumpsters will be picked up by Manifold Refuse and taken to the Madison Avenue Transfer Station, and eventually the garbage will make its way to the Randolph Farms Landfill, Reed said.
“He (Reed) merely tried to circumvent the April 1 deadline that will make (Senate Bill 043) apply to him. It was a rather hollow attempt,” Bill Kutschera, KCCA secretary, said. “The landfill cannot be approved under today’s environmental laws.”
Kutschera refers specifically to the proposed landfill’s proximity to Killbuck Creek.
So after 30 years of legal wrangling, Mallard Lake Landfill still stands devoid of waste.
“A lot of other waste facilities do this. We didn’t invent the wheel. We’re not doing anything out of the ordinary,” Reed said.
State Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, helped draft the legislation that required permitted landfills, such as Mallard Lake, to have accepted waste prior to April 1 to make the public aware that the sites are intended for managing solid waste.
“I don’t think (what Reed’s doing) complies with the intent of the legislation,” Lanane said. “I have a Dumpster at my office, but I am not a waste disposal facility.”
Amy Hartsock, public information officer for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, confirmed that Reed did submit a notification to operate a collection container system on Friday. Hartsock added the notification did not require approval; it just needed to be submitted.
