Texas Recycling Firm Making Changes to Operation

A Laredo, Texas, scrap metal recycler is taking steps to reduce the amount of air emissions caused by the company’s auto shredder. The shredder began operations this past May. The area where the plant operates is zoned industrial.

Wilkinson Iron & Metal’s auto shredder, located in Laredo, had been investigated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TECQ) due to complaints by a local school that air emissions violated state standards.

According to The Brownsville Herald, the TCEQ monitored the air around the school late last year and concluded that there was enough of a problem to trigger a clean air violation.

The newspaper reported that the TCEQ sent an enforcement notice to the scrap metal firm.

In response, Jim Wilkinson, owner of Wilkinson Iron & Metal, says that the company is erecting a 25-foot wall on one side of the facility to reduce the sound.

To cut down on the air emissions, Wilkinson says that the company also is looking to put up a building around the auto shredder. The company has put the project out to bid and hopes to have the shredder enclosed in a building within the next several months.

The company is working with American Pulverizer, the company that built the shredder, on constructing the building. The Brownsville Herald writes that the building could be 30 feet tall by 50 feet by 50 feet.