SOUTH JERSEY

State probes criminal elements in recycling

Carol Comegno
@CarolComegno
Runoff is shown in 2013 at the Jersey Recycling Services site, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

TRENTON - Recyclers have illegally dumped construction debris and contaminated soil in South Jersey, Middlesex County and elsewhere around the state, State Commission of Investigation (SCI) agents testified at a hearing Monday.

Two sites are along Pennsauken Creek and Route 73 in Palmyra and at Cliffwood Beach in Old Bridge along Raritan Bay.

MORE: DEP crackdown nets four dumping suspects

Dumping is often arranged by unscrupulous dirt brokers who locate debris and find unapproved dumping sites, authorities said.

Often principals involved in the dumping schemes have ties to organized crime in Philadelphia and New York, according to SCI investigators who testified at a three-hour hearing during which one witness connected to the Palmyra site — Frank Gillette of Jackson — refused to testify.

Bradley Sirkin, the former owner of Jersey Recycling Services (JRS)  who now lives in Florida, has a prior federal conviction for racketeering. Sirkin was subpoenaed twice to testify at the hearing in the State House Annex on Monday but did not appear.

However, SCI counsel C. Andrew Cliver told the commission Sirkin declined, saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

"It should surprise no one that the architects of this toxic trafficking include organized crime associates and criminals,"  SCI Acting Executive Director Lee Seglem said, alluding to past organized crime involvement in the solid waste industry.

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The SCI has not concluded its investigation, but Seglem said the commission will issue a final report that will include recommendations for regulatory and statutory reforms to require background checks for recyclers, dirt brokers and haulers.

Seglem also said illegal recycling activity pollutes the environment, affects public health and costs taxpayers for site remediation.

Investigators said they have discovered contaminated soil and construction debris in waste yards, private properties and along waterways around the state.

Cliver said Sirkin received a $50,000 check from a capo of the Bonanno crime family in New York through a shell company and that Gillette, who also has connections to the same family, collected checks from JRS for topsoil.

The 100-acre JRS site, also adjacent to the Palmyra Nature Cove, is an illegal recycling site that accepted debris from construction sites of the Camden Charter School and a New Brunswick project on Morrell Street.

The state Department of Environmental Protection immediately shut down the facility in 2013 after being advised by SCI investigators of the illegal dumping and visiting the site. DEP subsequently cited JRS with recycling violations and now is pursuing a court order against Sirkin for site remediation, said  DEP Bureau Chief of Solid Waste Compliance and Enforcement Thomas Farrell.

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    Recycling centers must be licensed in New Jersey, but there is no requirement of background checks for owners and no licensing requirements or background checks for haulers and dirt brokers, unlike the solid waste disposal industry.

"All you need is a fax and a phone line," SCI investigator Carol Palmer testified.

Fellow agent Robert Collins said the schemes are "all about money" because if these types of recyclers can cut corners, they can reduce their costs significantly.

However, the SCI agents said the JRS facility had no recycling permit and only a DEP exemption to handle small amounts of yard waste but not construction debris like concrete, bricks and asphalt nor contaminated soil.

Testing found the dirt was contaminated with unacceptable levels of PAHs (Polycyclic Aeromatic Hydrocarbons), a known cancer-causing chemical, as well as PCBs, arsenic and metals, but the commission was told a JRS consultant concluded the levels were within allowable levels.

  Contamination from  the JRS site has been polluting Pennsauken Creek through leaching from from the site, which is situated a quarter mile from the creek's mouth at the Delaware River.

When commissioner Robert Burzichelli asked an SCI agent what the cleanup cost would be at the Palmyra site, he responded, "Millions of dollars."

The agent also said Sirkin soon abandoned the site after DEP intervention, fled the state and was only recently located in Florida.

In Old Bridge along Raritan Bay, homeowners contracted with a dirt broker because Superstorm Sandy erosion threatened their homes, but investigators said instead of bringing in clean fill, he brought in both construction debris and contaminated soil.

Another SCI agent testified the equivalent of 350 truckloads of illegal debris was dumped on the beach area at no cost to the homeowners, who tried to stop it  when they realized what the fill was but could not. That fill also contained PAHs that escape into the air and the bay, according to other testimony.

That dirt broker, identified as Guido, had been convicted in federal court in connection with interstate theft, was wanted on municipal warrants and was apprehended as a result of the SCI investigation. There was agent testimony that Gillette also was involved at that site. 

Former Old Bridge administrator Christopher Marion said taxpayers there are footing a bill of more than $250,00 for capping of the debris, well monitoring for 30 years and engineering costs all required by DEP for site remediation.

Carol Comegno (856) 486-2473; or ccomegno@gannett.com