Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Media Contact: Anne Perry Moore, 218-723-2356 Technical Contact: Jennifer Jensen, 218-529-6259 Toll-free (all staff, voice and TTY), 800-657-3864 Duluth, Minn. -- Bay Side Recycling Corporation of Duluth, Minn., has agreed to pay a $20,000 penalty as part of an agreement with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to resolve alleged violations of hazardous waste, solid waste and stormwater rules. In addition, the company will complete two environmental projects with a total value of $42,000. Bay Side Recycling shreds and recycles steel and other metals from vehicles and appliances. The shredder separates the recyclable metals from the shredder "fluff," or nonrecyclable materials, such as plastics and upholstery. In January 2003, an MPCA inspector discovered the facility did not have solid waste or hazardous waste storage permits for the 10,562 cubic yards of shredder fluff accumulated on-site or the appropriate safeguards required for on-site storage. In addition, the company's stormwater permit had not been updated to reflect the volume of stored shredder fluff. Subsequent analysis indicated approximately 4,200 cubic yards of the fluff were hazardous waste because it contained over 50 parts per million of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. A small portion of the fluff also exceeded the hazardous waste limits for lead. Exposure to either can have human health or environmental consequences. In addition to paying a penalty, the company agreed to conduct two supplemental environmental projects costing $42,000. One has already been completed: The company provided equipment and personnel and accepted scrap metal for a burn-barrel exchange program in Duluth last month. The other, expected to occur soon, will provide low-cost appliance recycling to the public for a limited time. Enforcement agreements and supplemental environmental projects are among the MPCA's many tools used to enforce compliance with environmental laws. When calculating penalties, the MPCA takes into account how seriously the violation affected the environment, whether it was a first time or repeat violation, and how promptly the violation was reported to appropriate authorities. It also attempts to recover any economic benefit gained by failure to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner. For a comprehensive list of enforcement actions by the MPCA, refer to the agency Web site at/newscenter/enforcement.html.