Decatur Compost Inc. receives permit for new facility

Decatur Compost Inc. will develop a landscape waste compost facility on about 35 acres on North Bearsdale Road, just south of the intersection of Interstate 72 and Illinois 121, said Carol Fuller, community relations coordinator for the Illinois EPA.The site is about a half-mile from Macon County Composting Facility, also on North Bearsdale Road.The approved permit allows the owner to develop access roadways, staging areas, runoff controls and storage areas to prepare for receiving landscape waste for composting. Once development is complete, the company may apply for an operat

ing permit, Fuller said. Compost permits are issued for a maximum five-year term.

At a September meeting at the Macon County Farm Bureau hosted by the Illinois EPA, some neighbors raised concerns that the proposed facility could be an eyesore and an odor nuisance.The Illinois EPA has written a letter about the proposed facility. The letter, which begins "Dear Concerned Citizen," said in part, "To the extent that the law allows, the agency has attempted to address your concerns within the permit conditions."Don Roderick, who has sought a state permit to open the new facility, declined to comment Wednesday.The state also has renewed the permit for the existing composting facility on 3520 N. Bearsdale Road.The Illinois EPA has notified the site about violations, including the length of time material was stored and a lack of necessary testing equipment. The facility also received a permit to transfer landscape waste that allows yard waste to be ground up and used as landfill cover.According to the Illinois EPA, no landscape waste shall be received at the facility until development of an access road to the staging area is completed, the staging area is cleared of existing landscape waste piles onsite and sufficient windrow area is cleared in the designated area for the placement of incoming landscape waste receipts.Rex Evans, who operates the existing composting facility, said progress continues in cleaning up the facility he took over in January 2003.Mike Frazier can be reached at 421-7985.