Recycler Ordered to Halt Taking in Waste by PA DEP

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection filed an order against Perry County Metal Jan. 11, which prohibits the company from taking in solid waste and construction and demolition waste.

In addition to taking in scrap metal, as well as residentially collected recyclables from a number of communities in Perry County, the company has been taking in solid waste, construction and demolition waste, tires and other materials that do not fall under the standard of the company’s permit.

Sandy Roderick, a spokeswoman for the DEP, says that the company is not really processing materials, but rather using the site as a location where the material could be amassed and then transferred to a processing center.

Roderick says that the government agency has been receiving a number of complaints about the site over the past four years as the company began to take in more garbage.

As part of the order, the state claims that the company has been processing demolition waste without a permit; storing waste on site for more than a year; operating a transfer station without a permit; dumping solid waste on the ground; and storing solid waste without a permit.

As part of the order, the DEP is calling for the company to take the following actions: clean up the site of all non recyclables, provide receipts on where the solid waste has been shipped; and hire an environmental consultant to determine the condition of the site. The company has 120 days to complete all three of the steps.

Roderick says that if the company fails to follow up on these steps the state will go to court and have the order enforced.