Taft Stettinius & Hollister Negotiates Settlement that Brings Back More Than $517,000  to Support the District’s Free Solid Waste and Recycling Services

 

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CLEVELAND, OH – The Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District (GTSWMD) and Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP announced today that its claims against Paul Wolford, Wolford’s Refuse and Recycling, for failure to pay required generation fees for solid waste collected in the two counties, has been resolved. The settlement resulted in a payment of more than $517,000 with $387,000 of it going to the GTSWMD, which will be used to support the counties’ ongoing community recycling programs.  GTSWMD, which provides these services to residents for free, operates solely on generation fees paid by waste haulers to provide these programs.

“This settlement sends a message loud and clear to waste haulers that they have a lawful responsibility to pay these generation fees that fuel our ability to offer free programs to taxpayers such as household hazardous waste collection, tire drives and recycling drop-off sites,” said Bob Villers, Director of the GTSWMD. “We want to ensure the programs offered to the public don’t suffer because fees aren’t being paid and settlements like this one help us accomplish that goal.”

“The residents of Geauga and Trumbull counties do not deserve to lose one environmental program because of the actions of some waste haulers in trying to avoid paying generation fees,” said Gregory O’Brien, a partner in Taft, Stettinius & Hollister’s Cleveland office, and the lead attorney on the case. “The district will pursue all haulers aggressively to assure its residents have the best of all programs to assist in protecting the environment for future generations.”  Taft has collected more than $750,000 in fees and interest in generation fees for the District over the past couple of years alone.

O’Brien went on to say that these types of incidents are not atypical and other solid waste districts may want to evaluate similar courses of action to claim lost generation fees.

About Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District

The mission of the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District is to establish and maintain an effective, efficient and quality system to disseminate environmentally- sound information, services, and programs to the political, residential, commercial, and industrial communities within the District. The District operates on a solid waste generation fee and, with this fee, they are able to provide a number of solid waste and recycling related services including household hazardous waste collection programs, tire drives, appliance recycling programs, recycling drop-off sites, and illegal dump enforcement. Additionally, the District receives grant funding from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention that enables them to carry out educational programs, public awareness activities and cardboard recycling drop-off sites. For more information, visit www.startrecycling.com.