For 25 years, the city of Akron has sought solutions for the entire region’s environmental problems arising out of the disposal of solid waste. Our settlement today puts to rest what was once thought by many leaders in the region to be a viable solution---the expansion of the Hardy Road Landfill---but it also gives us new and different opportunities at this location as well.

Akron is accustomed to solving problems for the region. We have created solutions for water service, sewage treatment, and transportation that impact the entire community of Greater Akron and Summit County, usually at a cost to our citizens. For example, the Waste Transfer Station that Waste Management plans to build will serve the region’s short term needs, but the question of what to do with the tremendous amount of waste our communities generate every day remains a problem to be solved in the long term.

What some of our suburban neighbors never seem to appreciate or even recognize is that Akron continues to make significant investments to make the lives of everyone in the region better.