Volo compost plan draws heat

For years, the Perricone brothers have used composted grass clippings as a nutrient for trees and other plants at their garden center and nursery in Volo.

No one, they say, had an issue with the operation. But the business now is facing heat from residents to the west and has to secure a permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to operate a landscape waste compost facility.

"We've been here 15 years and never had a problem," said Mario Perricone. "We use the compost because it's good for our plant material."

Perricone Brothers Landscaping Inc., is applying for an IEPA permit to operate a landscape waste compost area on 6.2 acres of and adjacent to its garden center on Route 120 and Fisher Road.

The facility would accept landscape material - grass clippings, leaves and brush - for composting. Most of the material has been generated and used on the 45-acre site, according to Perricone, although some also has been accepted from contractors who arrive with debris and leave with trees or other plants.

"Even homeowners who buy trees from us can drop off a bag," Perricone said.

Perricone also will apply for a landscape material transfer permit, which will allow debris to be moved from a central drop off point, for example, to the composting area.

The proposed operation drew about 50 people Thursday from neighboring Lakemoor to a Volo plan commission hearing, on requests to annex a portion of the property. The hearing has been continued to Aug. 21.

Concerns included potential odors from the operation.

"'Might' is the word," said Volo Village President Burnell Russell. "I think there's a little hysteria going on there."

Perricone contends the business is being singled out because of a single complaint.

"We try to do things the right way and recycle and use it on our own fields and own property," he said. Grass clippings can produce an odor when they sit for long periods but since the materials are being constantly used that is not the case, he added.

All compost facilities require a permit, said Mike Kuhn, solid waste specialist with the Lake County Health Department, which regulates the operations on behalf of the IEPA.

"We had a complaint about some of the operations, just people questioning what was going on," he said. "We thought we should look not only at the one we received the complaint on but some of the larger operators," he said.

Notices that permits to either compost on site or accept landscape material for transfer to another location are needed have been sent to eight operators in Lake County, Kuhn said.

"We want to make sure there's no off-site odor problems," or potential impact on groundwater or surface water, he said.

Perricone is being allowed to continue composting and using materials generated on site but no fresh material is being allowed in, Kuhn added.