Grafton business to help with waste management in East Palestine train derailment

GRAFTON, Ohio (WOIO) - Ross Incineration Services announced Monday they have been contracted to treat part of the soil collected from the site of the train derailment in East Palestine.

“We’ve been asked to help East Palestine as quickly as possible,” said James Larson, CEO of Ross Environmental Services, Inc. “This is what we do every day, and incineration is the best available technology to safely handle this material. This incident has caused our fellow Ohioans to suffer heartbreak, fear and anger. We share in those sentiments.”

According to the business, authorities have mandated the soil be managed as a hazardous waste.

They said it will arrive by truck to the Ross Incineration facility and will immediately be subject to the company’s comprehensive hazardous waste management process, including sampling, visual inspection, storage and incineration.

The company stated that the soil coming to their Grafton facility was excavated from the area where the spill chemicals were burned after the train derailment.

The waste will consist of soil, gravel, and debris such as plastic and wood.

“Incineration is the most effective treatment method out there for these types of materials. And we’ve been safely handling wastes of this nature for over 70 years,” Larson said.

The company said their incinerator is equipped with a state-of-the art air pollution control system that captures any remaining contaminants from the incineration process to assure they are not released to the environment.

Ross Incineration is working with the Ohio EPA to monitor the process to ensure the waste is handle safely and compliantly.

According to an announcement from Ohio State Governor Mike DeWine, approximately 280 tons of contaminated soil has been disposed of, as well as 1.8 million gallons of liquid waste.

Gov. DeWine also announced this afternoon that sediment washing has begun in both Sulphur Run and Leslie Run, disturbing the sediment to release remaining contaminants to the surface of the water.

The contaminants are then removed by vacuum trucks.

No harmful levels of contaminants were found in test results from private water wells in the area as well as homes tested during air monitoring.

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