The cleanup is estimated to cost almost $1.3 million.
An Ohio guy whose job was to accumulate garbage has pleaded guilty to several charges associated with ditching that garbage as well as other prohibited waste in a makeshift spot on his property.
The guy, 52-year-old Donald Combs of Milford, Ohio, could face potential prison time for picking up tens of thousands of pounds of garbage over four decades and placing it at the unlicensed landfill next to his residence, in addition to in an unlicensed business website of his waste hauling company in neighboring Goshen Township, the Ohio attorney general’s office announced Thursday.
Combs, clarified by state governments as a”mass polluter,” would solicit waste-hauling company by putting advertisements on Craigslist. He undercut competitors, that factored in their costs”the ideal expenses of correctly dumping solid waste at a licensed landfill,” authorities said.
A few of the piles of waste, that have been blended in with building and demolition debris, have been greater than 20 feet high, authorities said. The cleanup is estimated to cost almost $1.3 million.
“This garbage guy drove off along with your garbage, but was not led into a landfill,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement.
In 2019, Combs pleaded guilty to start burning of waste in his residential home, police said. Whenever the Goshen Township Fire Department responded to his residence, they discovered that an unattended fire.
Combs was free on bail from this criminal situation when he ignored orders against the Ohio EPA forbidding him by hauling waste into his own unlicensed property, according to police.
A lawyer for Combs didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
