By GLYNIS HART
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CLAREMONT — The city planning board toured the site of the waste transfer station American Recycling has proposed for 43 Industrial Boulevard on Tuesday, accompanied by members of the public and at least one of the neighbors to the project.
Operating manager Dave Schiebel and Vice President of Operations Francesco Finocchiaro led the tour and answered questions about the project.
American Recycling owns a scrap metal recycling facility across the road at 38 Industrial Boulevard. Haulers bring the scrap metal in on trucks which are weighed at the entrance. Then the load is dumped and sorted by material and grade. Much of it is shredded, then exported.
“Everything is about going one-way,” said Schiebel, pointing out the signs. “It’s about safety; safety is a high priority.”
The scrap metal business operates on a tight margin, Finocchiaro explained. Prices fluctuate constantly. “It’s like a rollercoaster,” he said. “This project is about smoothing that out.”
The waste transfer station would bring American Recycling new revenue by accepting construction and demolition waste and shipping it by rail out of state. It would be the only such business in New Hampshire; the next closest facility is in the Boston area.
Schiebel said the company has already invested around $500,000 in the new project, buying and cleaning up the site for the transfer facility, and will probably spend another $1 million to demolish the building there, pour new and larger concrete pads, add fencing, and pave the access and exit for the trucks.
In New Hampshire, the cost per ton to dispose of C&D materials is $117. In Ohio, where this material is headed, the cost is $14-$17 per ton.
“We expect it to be a good revenue source,” said Finocchario. The waste would arrive on 35-50 trucks per day, and leave on 5-10 railroad cars, at an estimated volume of 300-500 tons per day. American Recycling’s permit from the state limits the amount of waste it is allowed to handle per year.
Members of the public expressed concerns that the facility would accept hazardous waste, contaminate the area with dust and raise the noise level at nearby residential areas.
Schiebel explained that hazardous materials wouldn’t be accepted by the haulers. “They can’t haul it legally, so they don’t want it,” he said. If anything slips through, the state has a list of protocols for how the workers will to handle it.
“What the state requires us to do, that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “Every load gets inspected before it hits the ground.”
Noise levels were another concern. Judith Koester, who lives in nearby Westwood Village, said she can hear the machinery at American Recycling. She could also hear the noise of the trains hauling the debris and leftover scrap metal away from the previous business. “It was all night,” she said.
Schiebel offered some reassurances about the noise AR would generate. As he was speaking, the “loudest piece of equipment we have” was shearing metal. His voice could be heard over it, at about a distance of 100 feet away.
The dump trucks are “walking floor” trucks that slide the debris over rather than dumping it in. “It’s not metal banging against metal. If something falls on a railcar it damages the car and I have to pay to fix it,” said Schiebel.
The C&D debris would be mostly wood scraps, sheetrock, and other non-metal items. Workers would “kick-sort” it and pull out any metal that can be recycled, and any improper items before loading it (with an excavator) onto the railcars. The newest excavators are surprisingly quiet and come with strict emissions controls.
The railcars would be attached and pushed out onto the tracks at the end of the day, ready for the trains to haul them away. The noise of the trains at night, and their schedule, is out of AR’s control.
Dust was another concern. However, C&D materials “come in wet,” said Schiebel. “And then we spray them down, if there’s dust.”
Among the renovations planned for the site is the laying of an 8-inch water main.
“I plan on running this facility the same way I run that facility,” said Schiebel, standing on the site. He gestured across the street. Several people, he said, who remembered the scrap metal place that used to be here said it’s already much cleaner since AR took it over.
Architect Wayne McCutcheon, who submitted the site plan to the planning board, remembered when Industrial Boulevard was built. “It was built by the city; that’s how it got here,” he said.
The road was built in 1984; Westwood Village in 1988.
Neighbors who have enjoyed a few years of quiet, however, are not looking forward to the sound of trains at night.
“Would you buy a condo in Westwood Village?” asked Koester. “Would you want to live there?”
Schiebel shrugged. “It depends on the price.”
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