‘Wall of stink’ has neighbors fuming

Some want county to quit sending trash to Dayton landfill.
Greg Pekar rakes leaves with his sons Aidan, 10, and Jaxson, 2, along with their neighbor Constance Heeter, 7. Pekar and his wife Amanda, both 28, had no knowledge of the odor befouling the German Village neighborhood in Moraine where they just moved two weeks ago from Cleveland. CHRIS STEWART / STAFF

Greg Pekar rakes leaves with his sons Aidan, 10, and Jaxson, 2, along with their neighbor Constance Heeter, 7. Pekar and his wife Amanda, both 28, had no knowledge of the odor befouling the German Village neighborhood in Moraine where they just moved two weeks ago from Cleveland. CHRIS STEWART / STAFF

Neighbors call it a “wall of stink” and it is pitting a neighborhood of working class residents against the nation’s largest solid waste company.

Waste Management owns the Stony Hollow Landfill in Dayton, which has been the subject of complaints from residents throughout a wide area that includes many of Dayton’s southern suburbs.

The city of Moraine alone has fielded more than 300 complaints.

Troubles at Stony Hollow worsened this year after discharges from the landfill resulted in overflows of Dayton’s sewer system. Last month, 13 employees cleaning out a main became ill and sought medical treatment.

Days later, the city ordered Waste Management to stop putting effluent into the system.

Waste Management officials say they are trying to fix the problem — and the smell — but neighbors and city officials are frustrated over what they say is a lack of urgency.

“We cannot ignore these concerns,” said Miamisburg Mayor Dick Church, who chaired a Nov. 16 meeting of the Montgomery County Waste Advisory Committee. “It is clear that Waste Management has broken the public’s trust.”

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