A South San Francisco waste tyre facility that the operator says was the only one of its kind in the Bay Area has been shut down and fined $30,000, state regulators announced Wednesday.
The shutdown follows a decision last fall by the state department of Resource Waste and Recycling to revoke the waste tyre facility permit for Global Waste Management for a period of three years. Global Waste Management had until March 23 to appeal the final revocation ruling, but chose not to do so.
The agency said the facility, which received a minor waste tyre facility permit allowing up to 4,999 tyres in December 2012, exceeded the limits on the permitted number of tyres on multiple occasions in 2013, at one time reaching as many as 21,000 tyres, the agency said.
In addition, it alleged other violations including a lack of access to emergency plans, the storage of flammable materials close to tyres and the use of an unregistered hauler.
Daniel Akhromtsev, Global Waste Management’s president and CEO, said Wednesday night that he had spent several years fighting the agency legally, with the help of former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s law firm.
He said he could no longer afford to continue the fight, however, as his business, which employed 20 people, was closed during legal proceedings and lost money and customers.
“I’ve lost everything,” Akhromtsev said.
Akhromtsev said he felt the agency was determined to find violations and run him out of business and did not deal honestly with him. He also rejected the allegations that he had exceeded the limits on the number of tyres on his property.
“I did everything by the book,” Akhromtsev said. “When I filed for the permit the first time, they took two years to issue a permit. That’s why I had to go to court.”
CalRecycle officials said stockpiled tyres provide space for vermin and can result in toxic tyre fires that are difficult to extinguish, such as one that started in Tracy in 1998 and burned for 26 months.
Source: Burlingame Hillsborough
Published: 27 Mar 2014