The Environmental Protection Agency or the EPA is playing an active part in maintaining a friendly environment in New Jersey. Just recently, they have announced that they will move over 2,000 drums, which contain hazardous material from a site in New Jersey. These drums will be sent out to proper facilities where they can be disposed of safely.
The drums are actually a waste product generated by a drum recycling company. This company used to clean, recycle and recondition plastic drums, and then sell them or used them again. The company was first established in 1980, and operated until 2013. Later in that year, EPA found their drum collections abandoned at a New Jersey site. The drums are in a really bad state. Some of them have holes and others have missing tops. Some have leaked their contents into the ground, and others have bulging sides.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection notified EPA about these drums and since then EPA has been working on improving the site conditions so that all exposed risks are removed. As part of this plan, the drums containing hazardous material will now be removed from the site.
The conditions of the site were totally unacceptable and threatened the environment as well as being against the law.
When the company first began disposing of the drums at that site, the New Jersey department of Environmental Protection got involved and asked them to remove those drums or dispose them after removing their contents. The response of the company to this request was too slow and eventually, they stopped paying any attention to the authorities. This is why EPA was asked to step in because the owner did not show any interest in addressing and resolving the issue.
Initially, the site owner did not grant any access to the EPA. The courts got involved and EPA was given the permission to enter the site and clean it up. Now EPA has installed fencing around the site, put up warning signs and monitor it 24/7.
EPA sampled the drum materials and found they contain toxic substances which can adversely affect health. This includes xylenes, toluene, benzene and other flammable and corrosive substances. EPA is also searching for parties that are responsible for this contamination so that charges can be held against them.
Source: www.americanrecycler.com
Connect with us: Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn – YouTube – Google +
