A pile of over 300,000 cu.yds. of illegally disposed construction and demolition waste at the ARCO Recycling site was removed following an 8 month cleanup in 2018.
The $8.8 million cleanup was paid for by Ohio EPA and done in cooperation with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, the city of East Cleveland, the Cleveland Division of Air Quality and the Cuyahoga County Executive’s Office.
Cleveland, Ohio Judge Shannon Gallagher wrote that George Michael Riley Sr., owner of ARCO, showed “blatant recalcitrance” and defied state law at every step of the way. The demolition contractor must pay $30 million in fines and leave the industry permanently, the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge ruled.
The state accused Riley of presenting Arco as a recycling facility for demolition debris, when in fact little material was recycled. Instead, it was a pile of debris grew higher and higher.
Published in the August 2021 Edition