Nulife Glass ordered to remove used CRT piles from Pennsylvania facilities

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has turned down the request by used cathode ray tube (CRT) recycler Nulife Glass for a variance in federal rules for classifying CRT as solid waste. Further, the DEP has ordered the company to get rid of nearly 17 million pounds of CRTs stored in various Pennsylvania warehouses in a timely manner. According to sources, the company has piled up inventories of CRT glasses in five warehouses in northwest PA: two in the City of Erie, and one each in Girard and Lake City in Erie County and Grove City in Mercer County.

The variance request by the company was rejected by the DEP, stating that the company failed to adequately address the criteria for variance, including the manner of recycling of the CRT materials and the time frame within which the stored CRTs would be recycled. The company also failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for accumulating the used CRTs at its facilities without being recycled. Also, Nulife failed to provide details of its financial ability to carry out responsible recycling of inventoried CRTs.

The DEP has ordered Newlife to take necessary actions to remove all the 17 million pounds of used CRTs stored across five warehouses within the state not later than February next year. In addition, the company must ensure that at least 5 million pounds of CRT materials are removed from the warehouses before end-June this year. Incidentally, the company had been accumulating CRTs in Pennsylvania warehouses with the intention of transporting them to be recycled at a lead smelter facility in New York.

Announcing the decision, Jim Miller, regional director of Northwest PA DEP stated that it was forced to arrive at the decision to uphold its commitment to protect the health and safety of its citizens. The state is always open to new industries and technologies to recycle old televisions and computers, but such companies are bound to function within the established rules and regulations, Miller noted.

Earlier in 2013, Nulife had announced opening of Dunkirk, New York recycling facility capable of recycling leaded glass from CRTs. The company had stated that the facility would use its proprietary technology to extract lead from the glass and had claimed it to be the most advanced CRT recycling plant in the world. The facility was expected to recycle around 91,000 tonnes of CRT glass.

The company failed to meet New York’s regulations and had been engaged in fight with local authorities over necessary permits to operate the facility. The company had even delivered a furnace from the UK and had begun processing up to 10 tons per day in early-2016. However, by the end of that year, the company temporarily turned the furnace off to undergo repair operations and carry out regular maintenance works. Towards mid-2016, the Pennsylvania officials had notified the company of violation of “speculative accumulation” regulation. Later, Nulife decided to surrender its Title V Air Permit and put an end to lead smelting operations at the Dunkirk facility.