U.S EPA crews have begun sorting and removing hazardous debris from a massive fire earlier this year at a Richmond, Indiana, plastic recycling facility warehouse.
The fire was at the My Way Trading warehouse, a large plastic recycling facility on 14 acres. Almost all of it burned, including a building with nearly 12 million pounds of plastic, which released giant plumes of black smoke and toxic chemicals.
The $3.3 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup will be at the 310 and 358 NW F St. properties. That includes about eight acres officials said were contaminated with asbestos-containing materials and other hard metals like lead and antimony.
The agency will only focus on contaminated debris and fire-damaged structures on those eight acres since chemicals requiring EPA cleanup weren't found on other parts of the site, said Allen Jarrell, an EPA on-scene coordinator.
“The cleanup will not include every facility that was part of the fire,” Jarrell said. “During a sampling this summer, EPA did not find any ACM, i.e. asbestos containing materials other than that on this eight acre parcel.”
Remediating the rest of the property is up to the City of Richmond. In a statement last month, the city said it’s pursuing legal claims against Cornerstone Trading Group — the My Way Trading parent company — for the costs related to the fire and the environmental investigation.
Crews will be on-site five days a week handling asbestos-containing debris for the next three months. Then, the agency will demolish fire-damaged structures and dispose of the debris at EPA-approved facilities, likely in Indiana and Ohio, according to Jarrell.
The agency will monitor air quality to ensure dust or debris doesn't go off site, he said.
“As long as we can ensure that we're not having dust or any debris go off site, I believe it's safe to assume that we're not in any way jeopardizing the health of the public off-site,” Jarrell said.
The EPA’s portion of the cleanup is expected to be done by summer of 2024.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
