“My whole house stunk,” Tina O’Sullivan said, adding the smell also affected their business, the Southwest Golf Ranch, north on US 42, from their home and the compost center.
Marvin Duren, the owner of the composting facility in question and Marvin’s Organic Gardenwhich is north on US 42, pledged to correct problems with the compost center. The compost center is behind Duren’s home on US 42. The odor problems started last fall, Duren said.
“Kindly bear with me until I can get it fixed,” Duren said. “I thought I fixed the situation. I didn’t.”
Duren’s neighbors said the problem has been ongoing.
“He said he was going to do it before. He never does it,” said Jeff Benson who owns property between Duren’s home compost facility and the O’Sullivan residence in Union Twp.
“I think he’s taking in so much he can’t keep up with it,” Benson said.
Duren said he has been handling organic waste at the site for more than 20 years.
“I didn’t have to have a permit when I started,” he said.
Under his current EPA permit, Duren said he is composting yard, forest and food waste — including 26,000 pounds a week from Trenton — as well as bedding, urine and feces from animals at the Cincinnati Zoo.
The O’Sullivans filed a complaint about the stench with the Ohio EPA in March but the inspector found “no evidence to justify the complaint.” The inspector could not be reached for comment after he visited with O’Sullivans and Duren on Friday.
In February, Clermont County farmer Mark Feitlinger filed a lawsuit, accusing Duren of selling him almost 500 yards of compost tainted with solid waste. Duren has offered to come and clean up the farm on several occasions, but the owner has denied him access, his lawyer, Joe Borchelt, said.
The lawsuit seeking compensatory and punitive damages is pending in Warren County Common Pleas Court.
Also last week, city of Lebanon officials visited the site because of concerns about retention ponds overflowing onto its property, east of the compost facility.
“I can’t farm it when it does that,” said Fred Vonderhaar, a Union Twp. trustee who contracts to farm the Lebanon land.
Duren said he met Friday with county and EPA officials over the latest complaints.
Within 30 days, Duren said he would aerate and redig the stinking pond and move compost creating the odors to the other side of the property. Enzymes expected to alleviate the problems were on order, Duren said.
The facility is an environmental alternative to traditional landfills, Duren said.
“Compost is recycling at its finest,” he said. “The finished product is an elixir that fixes all garden problems.”
O’Sullivan said she would pursue her complaints.
“He’s told me he was going to take care of this since last year,” O’Sullivan said. “We were on good terms. We’re not anymore.”
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