State agency assesses plastics-to-fuel facility for hazardous waste violations at its Tigard, Oregon, facility.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a $49,702 penalty to Oregon-based Agilyx Corp. for hazardous waste violations at its Tigard, Oregon, research facility. The facility converts scrap plastic into synthetic crude oil.
The DEQ fined the company for improper management of hazardous waste, failure to maintain an up-to-date contingency plan and failure to properly train employees who would be responsible for managing hazardous waste. The DEQ also cited the company, without penalty, for failure to label containers holding hazardous waste near the point of generation.
The Oregon DEQ says issued this penalty because the improper management of hazardous waste threatens public health and the environment. Similar violations were identified during an environmental audit of the facility in 2011.
In determining the civil penalty amount, the Oregon DEQ says it considered the company’s efforts to correct the violations, including making hazardous waste determinations, updating its contingency plan and addressing hazardous waste storage requirements identified during DEQ's October 2013 inspection of the facility.
Agilyx has appealed the fine and says it will have meetings with the DEQ staff to discuss points out contention as well as steps to resolve the issue.
One source says the company has denied at least two of the 10 violations: that the company generated 2,200 pounds or more per month of hazardous waste and the facility stored at the waste without clearly marking a date when accumulation in each container began.
