New Jersey-based Eagle Recycling fined for illegal waste dumping

New Jersey, USA, waste processor Eagle Recycling has been fined US$500,000 and told to pay more than US$70,000 in clean-up costs by the Utica, New York, federal court for illegally dumping construction and demolition waste. Eagle had earlier pled guilty to the charges at the court on 11 April 2011.

According to the charges, Eagle and others illegally dumped 8,100 tons (7,350 tonnes) of crushed waste that had been processed at the former's North Bergen waste processing facility in New Jersey. This was then transported to farmland in Frankfort, upstate New York, where it was disposed of. This illegal disposal was concealed by the production of a fake New York State Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) permit bearing a forged name of a DEC official.

The sentencing judge also imposed a three year corporate probation order and instructed Eagle to produce and fund an environmental compliance plan for the North Bergen facility to prevent further environmental violations at the operation.