| September 2020 |
Baled Garbage by Barge from Chicago Coming Soon.
Instead of its famous tag-line, “best town in Illinois by a dam site” Henry may be known in the future as the “best town in Illinois by a garbage barge dump site.” Ozinga Materials, owners of a large sand and gravel operation on the north side of Henry, have applied to become a waste transfer station for plastic wrapped bales of municipal garbage from Chicago. The large wrapped bales will be shipped by barge to the Ozinga docking facility on the Illinois River. The bales will be transferred from docked barges to flatbed trucks and hauled to the Atkinson Landfill in Marshall County, north of I80, for burial. Three thousand three hundred tons a day of baled waste is being planned.
A public hearing was held August 4th at the Henry High School with in-person and virtual access. Commenters spoke to many concerns for impacts on the residential areas closest to the Ozinga property because of the number of in semi-tractor trailer trucks to haul the waste. There were also many comments about impacts on local roads and the added traffic. The city is looking forward to added revenue from the project.
Ozinga representatives denied there were any concerns for garbage spills, smells, or other environmental risks. They also claimed the facility is necessary to accommodate waste needs of the area it is intended to serve.