TONTITOWN, Ark. — The Tontitown City Council will soon vote on a resolution expressing opposition to waste management expanding its landfill there.
“In 2006 there were 250 homes and now at this point there is 3,000 homes there within a mile and a half of the landfill,” said Mark Calcagni.
Calcagni moved into his Tontitown home 34 years ago. He says he’s one of the few people who lived less than a mile from the landfill when it opened but things have really changed.
“The gases and odors and the debris and we just, the neighbors out there are just kind of fed up because we don’t feel like they are doing what they are supposed to do with respect to coverage,” he said.
Another resident living near the landfill, Kenneth Lovett says their community is suffering due to the improper management at the landfill.
"I have talked to both regulatory agencies, ADEQ and Boston Mountain Waste District, of which neither have been willing to step up and investigate the fugitive emissions released daily from Eco Vista Waste Management,” he said.
Loud noises, the smell of human feces and trash littering the streets— those are some of the issues neighbors are reporting. Problems that have Mayor Angela Russell presenting a resolution to the city council. If approved, the resolution would declare that Tontitown doesn’t want the landfill to expand.
“If a company wanted to come in today and put a landfill in on Arbor Acres Avenue, they would be denied. I do not feel the landfill should be able to expand. If it is allowed to expand, the many problems that we are now having will greatly increase,” she said.
Russell also lives next door to the landfill and was there long before it was.
She says the gases coming from the landfill have consumed the east end of her home.
“There’s been times, I’ve been woken up in the middle of the night that I couldn’t even breathe. It would feel like there was something heavy on my chest. I would get up and I couldn’t walk because I would be so dizzy. I have actually fallen into walls because I was so dizzy,” she said.
Russell says the landfill used to have public meetings but recently canceled them. A dye test performed by ADEQ for the expansion resulted in Wildcat Creek in Tontitown turning red earlier this year.
Even if the resolution passes at the Nov. 1 city council meeting, it won’t stop waste management from expanding here. The only thing that can stop them is ADEQ which regulates all landfills across the state.
There is also a public input meeting that ADEQ will be hosting on Nov. 2 from 5-7 p.m. at the Springdale Senior Center.
5NEWS reached out to Waste Management for an interview about these concerns and Senior Sector Manager Jamie Vernon sent us this statement:
“Waste Management is proud of its efforts to improve the sustainability of Northwest Arkansas. Our eco vista landfill is an essential piece of infrastructure in Northwest Arkansas, providing the only class I and class IV landfill in the growing region. We look forward to continuing the expansion process."
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