Complete report - Partners for Clean Streams

Tyler Street Landfill (east end of Tyler St. near Creekside Ave., Toledo)
Site History:
The 77 acre Tyler St. Landfill was operated by the City of Toledo from the early 1950s
to 1968. The City of Toledo used the site to dispose of up to 2200 cubic yards of
municipal waste daily. Private parties also disposed of approximately 400 cubic yards
of industrial/commercial waste daily. Wastes such as grease, oil, sewage organic
materials, solvents, heavy metals, corrosives, paint wastes, municipal garbage, street
sweepings and more were disposed in this landfill.
The Ottawa River was rerouted to its present location and the original channel was
filled with waste as the Tyler St. Landfill. After the landfill stopped accepting waste
and was covered, the western portion of the property was used by Creekside Auto
Parts as an automobile junkyard which was covered by soil and demolition debris.
During this operation the land was leveled, cutting off part of the cap and exposing
waste. The east side of the landfill was vegetated with several small ponds/marshes
due to differential settling of the landfill waste materials. Leachate was discharging
from the landfill into the river in several places and the landfill had severely eroded
along the riverbanks until remediation.
Site Investigation (1984-1986)
Sampling studies done in 1984 and 1986 by the Ohio EPA and the City of Toledo
documented contaminant levels in the landfill soils and leachate high enough to
warrant further action under the Superfund program.
(1993-1995)
In 1993 an Expanded Site Inspection (ESI) at Tyler by US EPA documented the
existence of drainage pipes from within the landfill discharging directly into the
riverbank and into the river. Samples of the leachate and soil showed elevated levels
of heavy metals, volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, and PCBs.
In February 1993, US EPA conducted a Removal Site Evaluation and found the
contaminant levels did not meet the Removal Action Levels. Therefore time-critical
removal actions were deemed not necessary.
In June 1993 US EPA completed an ecological review of the available information for
the site and concluded that the landfill is contributing to the ecological risks posed to
the Ottawa River and measures to stop the flow should be taken.
In July 1993 the Ohio Dept. of Health (ODH) completed a Qualitative Health Risk
Evaluation (QHRE) concluding that Tyler contributes to the overall contamination of
the Ottawa River and swimming and wading pose an unacceptable risk.
(1993-1994)
These sites were investigated as a part of the Ohio EPA Maumee Area of Concern
Project Phase I site investigations and further investigation was recommended with
the potential for remediation of the site.
Lead Organization:
Ohio EPA (funded in part by a grant from US EPA)
(1994-1995)
In August 1994 the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) began work on an
Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis (EE/CA) on Tyler that was completed and
110
Activities and Accomplishments
Issue 2: Landfills, Dumps and
in the Maumee Area of Concern Brownfield Sites