EPA to clean up debris from fire at former Richmond plastics recycling business

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to clean up debris at the site of a massive fire in Richmond next month. The fire at the former plastics recycling business in April displaced more than 1,000 people and sent harmful smoke and debris into the air.

Jeffrey Wawczak, EPA Region 5 on-scene coordinator, said the agency will clean up material that caught on fire as well as scrap metal and other debris on the property.

“We're going to have to wet it down to make sure that we don't have any of the contaminants go into the air. The major contaminant of concern that we're looking at right now is the asbestos that was in the building," he said.

Wawczak said that material will be sent to a landfill that can accept hazardous waste — but the EPA hasn’t picked one yet. He said residents nearby can expect more truck traffic in the area during the cleanup and that the EPA will monitor the air to make sure no harmful dust comes off the site.

The agency already removed debris that fell in people’s yards from more than 300 properties in the area — including in Ohio.

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This latest cleanup is expected to cost $2.8 million. That money will come from federal taxes until the EPA can get reimbursed by the party responsible for the fire. Jeffrey Lippert works with EPA Region 5's emergency response program.

“We typically … we will start our clean ups and pursue responsible parties while we're doing them. And we do that because of the nature of the clean up and that it needs to be done sooner rather than later," he said.

Richmond residents have named the former owner of My Way Trading company in a class action lawsuit as well as the city — which currently owns part of the property.

Among other things, court and city documents said plastic and trash was blocking building exits, the sprinkler system wasn't working and fire extinguishers were placed on the floor where they could be knocked over. The buildings themselves also needed several repairs.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele. 

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