Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management approved, with conditions, a closure plan submitted by Global Waste Recycling, Coventry, RI, to remove construction and demolition debris stockpiled on the closed site.
Under the plan, no new material may be received at the site, and all existing solid waste must be removed by a final deadline of June 30, 2002. The plan also sets shorter, interim removal deadlines for individual stockpiles on the site. Global is not allowed to process any material at the property.
The company operated at the site for a number of years. About two years ago the Rhode Island DEM denied Global a license to operate, and last year petitioned and won a case in front of the Rhode Island Superior Court to force the closure of the facility.
Last August the court ordered Global to cease accepting any new material. In November, the court ordered the facility to close completely. Initially the company attempted to sell the facility as a gravel source to Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. That plan was rejected by the state.
The plan submitted by the state agency includes the following provisions:
No additional C&D debris or other solid waste can be brought to or received at the property;
No processing shall take place on the site;
All existing solid waste on the site shall be removed by the dates specified in the approval letter. All solid waste shall include, but not be limited to, all unprocessed and processed C&D, wood chips, screenings, hard product, and all other miscellaneous waste on the site;
Documentation from all destinations shall be submitted to the DEM for every truckload of material leaving the site.
The first phase of the closure, the removal of C&D screenings shall start no later than Oct. 9, 2001. A minimum of 8,000 cubic yards of the screenings must be removed by the end of this year. Additionally, at least 480 cubic yards per day must be removed. A total of 50 percent of all the screenings must be removed from the site by April 15, 2002, with all the screenings removed by June 30, 2002.
Another component of the closing is the removal of the hard product from the site. This would include materials such as brick, concrete, and electrical fixtures. This process also should begin by Oct. 9. Any agreement with Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. or any other party does not remove the obligation of Global to remove all the hard product from the site by the end of this year.
A third aspect of the closing is the demolition of the berm by Oct. 9. Half of the berm materials should be removed and disposed of at a licensed facility by Nov. 1, 2001 with all the berm material removed by Dec. 1, 2001.
The final portion of the closure is that all other solid waste on the site must be removed from the site by the end of this year.
The principals of Global have until the end of this week, Oct. 5, to respond to the closure plan.
If Global accepts the terms, DEM lawyers will ask a Superior Court judge to write them up as a consent agreement. The DEM would then be able to enforce the plan in court and pursue contempt-of-court proceedings against Global if the company did not meet its deadlines.
Alternatively, if Global rejects the proposed closure plan, the DEM will ask the recycler to release about $261,000 in closure funds that are now held in a joint account, said Gail Mastrati, a department spokeswoman. The DEM would then put those funds toward the removal of the stockpiles.
The facility was required to file an application for its operation as a result of changes to solid waste regulations that became effective in January 1997. Global’s application, filed in October 1997, contained numerous deficiencies and failed to demonstrate that the facility would be operated in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
After several meetings and extensive correspondence, DEM issued a Notice of Intent to Deny Global’s request for a license on June 16, 1999, and held a public hearing on that Notice on September 2, 1999.
Global never corrected the deficiencies that were contained in its application, prompting the decision by DEM to deny Global’s application. The major factors governing DEM’s denial included the company’s failure to provide adequate demonstration of markets for the "products" produced by the facility. The company did not provide the required plans or contingencies for the disposal of unmarketable materials.
The application also failed to address the continued storage of processed and unprocessed construction and demolition debris on site.
Finally, the DEM claimed that the application failed to provide an adequate closure plan and adequate financial mechanisms to ensure closure and removal of the current and proposed stockpiled waste (processed and unprocessed).