Compost fires in 2017 blanketed Yolo County with smoke. Now, this recycling firm has to pay
A recycling company has agreed to pay nearly $100,000 for storing more green waste at its Yolo County facility than was permitted, which sparked fires three years ago that sent thick smoke into the air and created hazardous conditions for residents, prosecutors said.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office reached a settlement earlier this month with Northern Recycling for the fires in September and October 2017 that started at its composting facility in Zamora. The prosecutors said the company admitted wrongdoing and will pay $95,365 in civil penalties and investigative costs.
The settlement with Northern Recycling was reached in a civil enforcement action for “ongoing mismanagement of its green waste composting facility in Zamora,” the District Attorney’s Office announced in Wednesday evening in a news release.
Heavy wind sent smoke from the fires throughout Yolo County. An alert from Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District at the time advised people with sensitive lungs to avoid going outside in Zamora, Woodland, Esparto, Davis and Winters.
“By failing to follow the rules, Northern Recycling created nuisances and caused fires that could have seriously affected neighboring communities,” Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in the news release.
Attempts by The Sacramento Bee to reach Northern Recycling representatives were not successful. Phone calls to the Zamora compost facility were not answered and there was no response to an emailed request for a comment.
The volunteer Zamora Fire Protection District officials have said flames burning inside the Northern Recycling Compost Facility spread to grass outside. The Fire Protection District and the Yolo County Environmental Health Division investigated the fires and the cause.
Green wast piles
Northern Recycling’s solid waste permit allows it to store up to 50,000 cubic-yards of green waste at the facility at any time. Prosecutors said investigators discovered the company repeatedly went over that limit despite receiving warnings from Environmental Health in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
In 2017, Northern Recycling stored about 100,000 cubic yards of waste at the facility, prosecutors said. They also said Northern Recycling was notified by Environmental Health multiple times between 2009 and 2017 that it was failing to adequately control odors, litter, nuisances and noise at the facility.
Investigators learned that Northern Recycling used faulty thermometers in 2017 to monitor the green waste temperature of storage piles, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Heat is a natural byproduct in composting, and the heat can cause the waste piles to spontaneously combust or catch fire without properly monitoring the size or temperature of the piles. That’s what caused the 2017 fires, prosecutors said.
The investigators also discovered that Northern Recycling was also not following certain fire access and response plan requirements designed to keep emergency responders safe and failed to provide adequate fire lanes and notify the fire district of previous fires at the facility, according to the news release.
Yolo County donations
Yolo Superior Court Judge Stephen Mock approved the settlement Feb. 14. As part of the settlement, Northern Recycling entered into an injunction that requires it to abide its solid waste permit and its fire response and access plan.
Prosecutors said if Northern Recycling violates terms of the injunction, the company will have to pay an additional $93,500 in penalties. Northern Recycling also agreed to donate $35,000 worth of finished compost to the Yolo County Farm to Fork Program and $17,500 worth of finished compost to Yolo County Community Gardens participating in the Earth Day Giveaway for the next five years.
Northern Recycling also will create educational materials on proper green recycling practices for the Environmental Health Division to educate residents and businesses.
