Stop the Elcon Hazardous Waste Burner!
Bucks County has surpassed Allegheny and Philadelphia for “orange” air quality days when children, the elderly and asthmatics are at risk of respiratory damage. In spite of this, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) is considering allowing Elcon Recycling Services to construct a hazardous waste treatment facility in Falls Township, next to the Wheelabrator Falls Waste Incinerator. Multiple times in the last few years, PADEP found that the incinerator violated its agreement to continuously monitor emissions.
Contact Russell Zerbo at 215.567.4004 x130 or rzerbo@cleanair.org for more information. Please tell DEP to stop this dangerous proposal.
“Elcon’s wastewater treatment plant sits half a mile from a creek that empties into the Delaware River and 15 miles away from the water intake for the City of Philadelphia. Hoping that there will be no accidents is just not an acceptable answer. Hazardous water in the Delaware River could contaminate millions who drink Philadelphia water, which is why the Water Department opposes the siting of this plant in Bucks County. We do not want this plant.”
Walter Tsou, MD, MPH
Former Health Commissioner of Philadelphia
Not counting air pollution, there will be two things leaving this facility for the landfill, 3,300 tons of hazardous sludge per year and 5,500 tons of hazardous salts per year.
Elcon has applied to receive 268 different kinds of wastes. This is quoted from their application: “Storage tanks may receive raw industrial wastewater containing 120 mg/l of Mercury, 900 mg/l lead, 340 mg/l Cadmium. Treated wastewater contains .025 mg/l mercury, .025 mg/l of lead, .025 mg/l cadmium.”
In terms of the sludge, they will be drying it in “sludge ovens” and then landfilling the waste. The thermal oxidizer is planned to reach 1800 degrees F and is built for 2,552. In their own internal documents you can clearly read “Thermal Oxidizer Burner” and “Sludge Oven Burner”.
The proposed facility should be considered a major source of air pollution. In a non-attainment area, major sources are listed as emitting 25 tons per year of NOx, which is just shy of what Elcon is proposing. Even though they are pursuing permits to operate the facility 24 hours 7 days and 365 days per year, they are claiming they will only emit air pollution 8,400 hours a year. A full year contains 8,760 hours. Click here to see Bucks County on this list of non-attainment areas.
On page 249 of this document Elcon states, in reference to Nitrogen Oxides: “Elcon is seeking a facility-wide limitation of 25 tpy [tons per year] for this pollutant.”
That is a major source of smog-causing Nitrogen Oxides which Elcon fails to acknowledge.
Want to see the technical details? Click any of the links below to learn more:
The list of materials Elcon will be incinerating
The heavy metals it will be emitting
Elcon’s violations from other operations overseas
