A metal recycling company in Madbury will have to pay $2.7 million to the state for improper disposal of hazardous waste. It is the largest penalty ever in New Hampshire for hazardous waste violations.
New England Metal Recycling processes used cars, salvaging what’s valuable and then shredding the rest into something known as fluff.
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A previous owner of the Madbury facility unlawfully disposed of the fluff in the 80s.
In 2006, the state’s Department of Environmental Services told New England Metal Recycling to excavate and properly dispose of more than 20,000 cubic yards of buried fluff.
But instead, the company covered the fluff to look like clean fill.
Because there wasn’t a plan in place to properly contain that material, some of it got into the groundwater, damaging the City of Dover’s water supply.
The $2.7 million fine will go to the State’s Hazardous Waste fund.
