SPRINGFIELD – The incinerator that has been used to dispose of much of the city’s – and the region’s – trash is being decommissioned and replaced.
The company operating the incinerator, Community EcoPower, has declared bankruptcy.
The city has entered into an interim agreement with F & G Recycling, the company that purchased the incinerator near Bondi’s Island, to continue disposing of the city’s garbage. The incinerator will be replaced with a transfer station that will process the trash and truck it to other locations for disposal, William Baker, the communications director for Mayor Domenic Sarno, told Reminder Publishing.
The interim agreement is though June 2023.
Baker said the creation of the transfer station still needs state permitting and there have been concerns raised about containing odor.
The incinerator was built in 1988 on 5.3 acres of land near the wastewater treatment plant. The trash that is burned generates 9 megawatts of electricity, Baker added.
Trash from Springfield made up about 40 percent of the refuse processed at the incinerator.
In a written statement, Sarno said, “First off, I want to reassure our residents that there will be no financial impact and no interruption of trash services for our residents from this private ownership change of the Bondi’s Island Trash site. My administration has reached an interim agreement for the disposal of our solid waste and the day-to-day collection of residential trash barrels will not change. In addition, we have been reassured that during this transitional period there will be no odor issues as F&G works with the State, DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] and the city to repurpose the site. I want to thank City Solicitor Judge John Payne and DPW Director Chris Cignoli for their dedicated efforts monitoring this situation and working to secure that the best interest of the city of Springfield and our residents were considered during this transfer of ownership.”
Department of Public Works Director Chris Cignoli stated, “We have been involved in the legal aspects of the bankruptcy filing for over almost a year and have been coordinating with our new vendor on an agreement that will continue to provide uninterrupted trash services to our residents, along with no financial impact to the city of Springfield. Our residents will see absolutely no change in services. We have also received the necessary assurances from F&G that there will not be any odor issues due to all of the material handling occurring inside of the facility.”
The actions will not affect the disposal of recycling materials and yard waste for residents.
