Toxic Waste Recycling Plant Plans Opposed
Hailing it as a potential economic boon for Oceanside, a firm has unveiled plans for a toxic waste recycling center, but residents are already gearing up to fight the proposal because of environmental concerns.
Recontek Inc. of San Diego is pushing to build a 51,000-square-foot plant in an industrial park along a major thoroughfare in central Oceanside. It would be capable of processing 4,800 tons of liquid and solid waste each month.
Backers of the plan say the plant, which would handle toxic byproducts of the electronics, defense and aerospace industries, could spark a stampede of such high-tech firms to Oceanside and other North County cities.
‘Real Potential’
With the recent approval of state laws mandating a shift toward the recycling of hazardous wastes, many electronics firms will be eager to hunker down near processing operations such as the one planned in Oceanside, proponents of the plant contend.
“There’s a real potential for attracting electronics industries generating this kind of material,” Ann Nussbaum, a planning consultant working with Recontek, said Thursday. “For these firms, transporting toxics to distant landfills can get very expensive. If they have a facility like this in close proximity, it certainly saves money for them.”
But residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the 5.7-acre site of the $4-million project, located in an innocuous corner of the Rancho del Oro Industrial Park along Oceanside Boulevard, are concerned about the plant’s potential impact on both their health and their property values.
“I am furious about this thing,” said Charisse Krieger, a mother of two young children who lives about four blocks from the plant site. “Nobody wants one of these in their town.”
Krieger said she plans to organize neighbors in an effort to block construction of the plant, which she speculated could release toxic fumes into the air or liquid wastes into the ground if an accident or natural disaster like an earthquake occurred.
Moreover, she complained that Recontek has no firm track record in the waste recycling business and argued that many residents would rather not see industries that handle toxics come to Oceanside.
“Sure, I worry about my property values, but my major concern is with my kids,” Krieger said. “I don’t think they really know the long-term effects of these hazardous-waste recycling plants.”
Recontek officials say such worries are unfounded, and expressed hope that a “public education process” the firm plans to unfurl will convince Oceanside residents that the plant would be a good neighbor.
Products Could be Sold
Employing about 130 people, the processing facility would not produce heavy metals such as PCBs, dioxins or other carcinogens; nor would there be any explosives or other combustables, a company spokesman said.
Liquid and sludge wastes would be distilled and electrically diffused to separate toxins into base components such as copper, zinc, cadmium, acid and other products that can be sold on the commercial market.
Most of those recycling techniques go back about 100 years, but have never been commercially applied to the processing of toxins produced in the U.S. electronics industry, Recontek officials said. Although the hazardous-waste recycling industry has flourished in Europe, the Oceanside plant would be the first of its type in this country, they say.
Company officials say the plant would be sufficiently enclosed to prevent venting of gasses. Any vapor released into the air would be treated by a complex system of scrubbers, rendering it safe, they contend. Only carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor would be released into the air, the company maintains.
Liquids that potentially could spill onto the floor of the plant would be washed into a sump where they would be pumped into a storage tank for reintroduction into the recycling process.
Prototype Plant
In all, the company insists the plant would be far more safe than an electronics firm that actually uses such toxic substances, in large part because the recycling operation would be regulated more tightly by state and county agencies.
Currently, Recontek operates a prototype plant in San Diego engaged in a similar process, but on a more limited basis. While the Oceanside plant could handle up to 1-million gallons of toxics a month coming from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, the smaller plant, which has been in operation since 1981, can process about 100,000 gallons a month, company officials said.
The project, first submitted to the city late last year, is slated for a series of public reviews in the months to come. Under that process, the Oceanside City Council will appoint a seven-member committee of residents, merchants and environmentalists who will serve as the city’s representative in negotiations with Recontek.
Nussbaum said the review process is expected to be long, encompassing about six months to a year. It also will be involved, she said, with approvals required from the regional air quality control district, state and local health officials, the regional water quality control board and other agencies.
Oceanside officials will have veto power on the proposal, but any decision can be appealed to the governors office under recently approved state legislation.
