FOSTORIA | Health District Says WIN Waste Blocked Its Landfill Soil Testing

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Author: FFP Ai Bot

FOSTORIA — The Seneca County General Health District says WIN Waste Innovations refused to allow the district to test the soil at the WIN Waste landfill near Fostoria, and that the company’s lawyers threatened to sue if the sampling proceeds.

In a news release dated Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, headlined "WIN Waste Attempts to Stop Health District's Testing at the Landfill," the health district said independent sampling had been scheduled after the Seneca County Board of Health voted Oct. 29 to conduct soil sampling and laboratory testing at the landfill at 12500 W. County Road 18, the former Sunny Farms site.

The board approved the testing after the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency declined to require laboratory analysis of soil in an area being excavated for the landfill's expansion, relying instead on visual inspections, according to the health district. Historical records cited by the district show benzene, a confirmed human carcinogen, and cyanide were disposed of at the site in the 1980s.

Health Commissioner Julie Richards said in the Nov. 6 release that WIN Waste demanded the district not test the soil because Ohio EPA was not requiring the work, and that laboratory testing is necessary to determine whether residual benzene, cyanide and heavy metals remain in the soil where they could seep into groundwater. The release says benzene and dissolved cyanide are colorless, odorless and invisible in soil, and that laboratory testing is the only way to be certain no hazardous waste remains.

The release also says WIN Waste previously refused to allow air testing for toxic landfill gases last summer, and calls on Ohio EPA and WIN Waste to provide access for the sampling.

A response from WIN Waste was not included in the material available to The Fostoria Free Press. The access-denial and lawsuit-threat allegations are the health district's account and have not been independently corroborated. The Nov. 6 release does not provide new soil-testing results. The district published the release on its Facebook page; the district's Oct. 30 website post and WTOL 11's Oct. 29 coverage provide background on the testing vote.

Official release (Seneca County General Health District, Nov. 6, 2026):