Massachusetts scrap metals firm gets nod to build auto shredding facility

BOSTON (Scrap Monster): Freetown, Massachusetts Zoning Board of Appeals has given green signal to Massachusetts-based Excel Recycling to go ahead with construction and operation of a new auto shredder facility in Freetown. The Board turned down a public petition by town residents to stop the project over concerns of increased traffic and noise, upon allowing the scrap metal processing facility to operate in the region.

The denial of the petition will allow the company to continue construction of the auto shredder facility. Excel Recycling has been working on the project for almost a year now and the project is expected to be completed soon. Earlier in April this year, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection had granted air emissions approval to the company. Upon completion of construction, the facility at 17 Ridge Hill Road in East Freetown will sprawl around five acres of land. Also, the facility will have a capacity to process 60 tons of scrap per hour with a monthly processing capacity to the tune of up to 20,000 tons. According to Excel Recycling, scrap metal will be delivered to the site by truck and the processed materials and waste will be taken out of the facility either by truck or by rail.

In May this year, Freetown’s building inspector had issued a permit allowing the facility to be constructed without a special permit. Although two members of the Planning Board had voted against the building inspector’s decision, the third member voted in favor, thus upholding the building inspector’s decision. The Zoning Board authorities had clarified that many of the concerns raised by the citizens were not within the jurisdiction of the Board of Appeals. Also, the facility will require a special permit only if it is a recycling facility. The facility, since it intends to operate as a scrap metal processing facility, would not need a special permit, it noted.

However, a group of neighbors had expressed concerns that processing of scrap metal including appliances, automobile parts, sheet metal and household metals at the facility would generate additional traffic and noise in the region. They had demanded that Excel Recycling should be ordered to obtain a special permit from the town’s Planning Board before it starts operating the scrap metal recycling facility.

Recently, Excel Recycling had signed a three-year lease with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) to store and ship scrap metal from the Marine Commerce Terminal in the coastal city of New Bedford in city’s South End. The company aims to ship scrap metal from the terminal to steel mills around the world, where it will be converted into new products.

About Excel Recycling

Excel Recycling LLC was founded in 2003 by Marty Costa in Westport, Massachusetts. Initially the company serviced mainly municipal transfer stations throughout the south coast and Cape Cod. It currently operates three facilities at 37 Charlotte White Road Westport, 17 Griffin Road Charlton and 53 Jefferson Avenue Salem. These facilities serve the southern New England region, including SouthCoast MA, southeastern MA, Cape Cod, South Shore & North Shore MA, Greater Boston, Metro West MA, central MA, southern New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Excel Recycling collects, sells and processes most ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metals.