MEADVILLE – As part of an ongoing statewide effort to ensure trash haulers comply with environmental and highway safety laws, the Department of Environmental Protection found violations on 23 of the 176 trash trucks inspected at three waste transfer stations and a landfill in northwestern Pennsylvania this week.
“Our goal is to make sure waste is managed in an environmentally sound manner and that haulers use the greatest care to ensure safety on our highways,” DEP Northwest Regional Director Kelly Burch said. “These laws are designed to keep people safe and our environment clean, and they need to be obeyed.”
All of the violations were against haulers and not the transfer stations or landfill.
The inspections took place at Tri-County Transfer Station in Mercer County; World Resource Recovery Systems and Waste Management Inc.’s Greater Erie Transfer Station in Erie County; and Seneca Landfill in Butler County.
Trash haulers must get authorization from DEP through Act 90, the state’s Waste Transportation Safety Act, to haul trash in Pennsylvania. DEP inspectors look at compliance history, and if outstanding violations exist or there is an inability to comply with Act 90 regulations, the state can revoke authorization.
In addition to checking the Act 90 authorization, DEP inspectors also look for fire extinguisher and sign violations; drivers not properly managing waste during transportation; leaking loads; improper covers over the waste; trucks that are overweight or otherwise overloaded; and log book or record-keeping violations.
DEP issued 23 notices of violation for leaking loads, vehicle enclosure issues, log book violations and a discharged fire extinguisher. One truck did not have valid written Act 90 authorizations. A single vehicle may have more than one violation.
State police participated in the inspections at Tri-County and Seneca.
