Auto Scrap Yard Seeks Permission to Handle More Tires

 

Roxbury Auto Wreckers wants to shred tires at its Kenvil, NJ, facility, and its owners are willing to pick up township residents’ discarded tires for free if permission is granted.

 

At the Township Council’s May 25 meeting, West Orange attorney Sharon Weiner and Roxbury Auto Wreckers owner Andrew Governale presented the council with its proposal.

 

According to Weiner, the facility, which encompasses about 22 acres on the Wharton border along West Dewey Avenue, currently has a tire shredding operation. However, all that is shredded are tires that come in on junked cars and trucks. According to Weiner, in 1998, the Township Council refused to allow Governale to expand his auto wrecking operation to include a commercial tire shredding operation.

 

“All that is being shredded right now are tires that come in on the cars and trucks, and that’s only a very minimal amount,” she told the council.

 

Now, she said, Governale is seeking a Class B license to become a recycling facility for tires. Now, Weiner said, her client is again seeking support from the council for such an operation before appearing before the Morris County Solid Waste Master Plan Advisory Committee with a site plan. In addition, Weiner also said the applicant would come before the township’s Planning Board.

 

“This council turned down the proposal in 1998, but since then, we have been working with (Township Manager) Christopher Raths to come up with a different proposal that might be more attractive to you,” she said.

 

She said previous concerns were over noise and air pollution, but said the entire recycling operation, which consists of a large grinder that turns tires into chips between two and four inches in diameter, will take place indoors.

 

“The building is located far back from West Dewey Avenue and far away from the residential areas. It’s a remote location on the property, and the entire operation is completely enclosed,” she said.

 

She said the shredder itself is run by a small diesel engine, and said air and noise pollution will be minimal, if at all.

 

She also said traffic was another concern, but said that a total of only about 20 trucks per day is being proposed.

 

“We will limit our auto wrecking operation to only about 15 trucks per day, with approximately another four trucks per day being tires. We will also limit the time each day that trucks can come in with tires so we will not interfere with school busses and rush hour,” Weiner said.

 

She also said truckers will be instructed to exit off of Route 80 at Exit 34, keeping them off of Roxbury’s roads, for the most part.

 

“The trucks will only be traveling approximately one half of a mile through Roxbury each day,” she said.

 

“We would also be willing to pay Roxbury a host community fee of $1 per ton of tires,” she said.

 

She also said it would enable the township to receive grants for recycling efforts.

 

“Morris County produces approximately 20,000 tires per day that are either dumped illegally or taken to landfills. You will be significantly helping to reduce the waste flow in the county,” she said.

 

“We will give you money and this will keep the illegally dumped tires off the streets,” she said.

 

In addition, Weiner said the operation will accept tires, free of charge, from Roxbury residents.

 

“We are willing to place a collection container at a site you choose in the township,” she said.

 

In addition, she said employees of the facility will regularly pick up illegally dumped tires around the township, again, free of charge.

 

“We are also planning to scale back on our auto wrecking operation as the tire recycling business becomes more profitable,” she said.

 

“In the future, we would like to be able to reduce it significantly,” Weiner said, although, upon questioning by council members, she could not commit to a timeframe.

 

Deputy Mayor Richard Zoschak told Weiner and Governale that this past winter, employees of the Lake Hopatcong Commission pulled more than three dump trucks full of tires from the shores of Lake Hopatcong. Weiner said that if the facility is approved, it would take such tires in the future.

 

“This is a facility whose sole purpose is going to be to get rid of these tires. We will take them all,” she said.

 

Governale said the current machine he owns can grind up to 15 tires per minute. “It’s done very, very quickly,” he said.

 

He said a truck would enter to the rear of the property, would dump the tires on the conveyor belt and would leave the site. “We can have between 700 and 800 tires gone in a few hours. We never leave tires stacked on the ground overnight. We wouldn’t leave them on the ground for more than a day, and we spray them regularly with insecticide to prevent mosquitoes,” Governale told the council.

 

He said the chips are sold, currently, to a landfill in New York, where they are used as landfill caps. “They are far more useful for that than crushed stone,” he said.

 

Weiner said there is a tremendous market for the grinded tire pieces and Governale agreed, saying that he can’t keep up with the demand.

 

“The landfill wants two to three loads per day. That’s a lot of tires. I can’t provide that much,” he said.

 

Councilman Fred Hall said he likes the idea of truck traffic staying, for the most part, off of Roxbury’s roads.

 

In response, Weiner said she has worked with Raths to address all of the previous concerns the council had.

 

Hall also said he’d like to hear a timeframe of when the auto wrecking operation would be scaled back, or ceased.

 

“It’s hard to say that. It’s a business that right now makes a profit from auto wrecking. I don’t know when we would be able to make a profit from the tire shredding facility. We have never had a full-time tire operation before, so we don’t know,” Weiner said, in response.

 

“We need some time to see what kind of profit this is going to make,” she said.

 

Governale said he expects the demand will be high. The next closest tire recycling facility, he said, is located in Lakewood. “It’s too far to drive to Lakewood if you’re in Morris County and you’re looking to get rid of tires,” he said.

 

Other council members asked about what the recycling building will look like. Weiner said it will be a pre-fabricated building which will be about 40 feet tall. “It will have to be a pretty big building for this type of operation,” she said.

 

Governale said there would be no dust or particles, but rather, there would be tire pieces between two to four inches in diameter.

 

Councilwoman Sandy Urgo said she likes much of what Governale is offering, but questioned who will be charged with making sure that only 20 trucks per day are entering and leaving the facility.

 

“I know getting rid of tires is a problem. And it’s a hardship for people. We charge residents to pick up their tires. I don’t agree with that, but we do,” Urgo said. “So, a lot of what you are offering sounds like a good thing,” she said.

 

“But, we will have no way to police how many trucks are coming and going everyday,” she said.

 

In response, Governale said there is a written manifest that is maintained each day. “You will be able to see exactly how many trucks will be coming in,” he said.

 

Urgo also said she’d like to see a memo from Governale four times a year detailing where and when tires were picked up around the township.

 

“I would much rather see a tire recycling operation there than a junkyard,” she said. “I could also live with a slow transition to a complete recycling operation as long as we (the township) do not lose control over this and wind up with 500 trucks per day there,” Urgo said.

 

In response, Weiner said it will be limited to 60 tons of tires per day, which is about four trucks.

 

After some discussion with attorney Anthony Bucco as to who the county or the township would have jurisdiction for final approvals and site plan review, the council agreed to have Raths and Bucco investigate.

 

Council members, however, were generally receptive to the idea.

 

“There are things to be worked out, but I am in favor of what I’ve seen so far here tonight,” Councilman Jim Rilee said.

 

Mayor Tom Vickery told the applicant and Weiner that the council is generally receptive to the idea.

 

“It’s clear that we still have to talk with Mr. Bucco and Mr. Raths so we can see how we proceed, but I think what I’m hearing from this council is that the idea is looking good,” he said. Roxbury Register