Ohio EPA looking into potentially hazardous waste in Canfield

A closeup of the material in the piles.

UPDATE 09/19/25: According to a Sept. 5 letter from the Ohio EPA to USA Rolls owner Kevin Sheldon, testing results indicated the welding byproduct being stored on the business's property "is non-hazardous and metals are below regulatory limits and/or below detection limits." The agency determined that USA Rolls had adequately resolved its violation. 

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking into a Canfield business over the way it is storing waste on its property — and whether the waste is hazardous to the environment.

The state EPA sent a notice of violation letter to USA Rolls on W. Main Street Friday, the result of a complaint it received against the company in June. USA Rolls manufactures heat transfer rolls, according to its website. 

The business has been storing a used welding byproduct called flux on the perimeter of its property. As of Wednesday afternoon, 21 News observed that the waste remained piled up, next to marsh wetlands and the Mill Creek MetroParks Bikeway.

While the notice of violation was issued under Ohio’s laws on hazardous waste, the agency is not accusing USA Rolls of improperly storing hazardous materials. Instead, it says the business needs to conduct more testing on the material in its used form, to make sure it is safe for the environment. 

The agency has asked USA Rolls to provide documentation within 14 days of receiving the letter, showing what action the company has taken toward that request.

According to the letter, when Ohio EPA inspectors came to the property and asked USA Rolls about the material on August 5, the company provided a safety data sheet, “which indicated the original material was not hazardous waste.” However, the letter goes on to say USA Rolls did not have data on the safety of the material “once it was considered spent or used.” 

Lisa Cochran, a spokesperson for the EPA, explained in a statement that the burden is on the business to determine whether waste is hazardous, which is why additional testing is needed.

"Ohio’s hazardous waste rules require businesses that generate waste to determine whether that waste is hazardous so that it is properly managed according to hazardous waste rules," Cochran said. "A material that is not hazardous could become so by being contaminated through its use."

Despite concerns in the initial complaint about runoff, the Ohio EPA noted in its inspection report that an earlier inspection from the Mahoning County Public Health department (MCPH) revealed “no odor, discoloration, or dead vegetation in/around water in the marsh that was visible from the property." 

The owner of USA Rolls, Kevin Sheldon, declined an on-camera interview request, but in a phone conversation seemed frustrated by the violation notice. Sheldon told 21 News the letter was “premature” and the Ohio EPA and MCPH “maliciously and capriciously” came after his business, but that they “will play the cards we’re dealt.”

Sheldon said USA Rolls has sent out samples of the flux for testing as requested, and said the results could come back as early as this week.