Massachusetts city zoning board rejects petition involving scrap yard

The Zoning Board of Appeals for Freetown, Massachusetts, has rejected a petition signed by a number of town residents seeking to prevent a scrap metal company from operating an auto shredding facility in the city.

The decision to deny the petition grants Excel Recycling a building permit, allowing the metals recycling company to continue construction of the new facility on a 5 acre site.

The new location will include a Wendt shredder with a nominal design capacity of 60 tons per hour and up to 20,000 tons per month. It also will include a nonferrous separation plant and ferrous separation equipment.

The company received approval from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for an air emissions permit in April 2016.

A spokesman for the town says the company has been working on the project for close to one year and is expected to be completed fairly soon.

In the meantime, a group of opponents to the project, including a representative of a competitor, has filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection over the air emissions permit.