Rochester waste facility fined for water pollution
A machine processes, sorts and creates commodities from recyclable materials at the Rochester Zero Waste Solutions location. File photo
Zero Waste was among seven facilities fined for polluting area waterways.
A machine processes, sorts and creates commodities from recyclable materials at the Rochester Zero Waste Solutions location. File photo
Zero Waste was among seven facilities fined for polluting area waterways.
ROCHESTER — Zero Waste Solutions, a waste management company at 48 Cranberry Highway, was among seven waste facilities in Massachusetts fined for discharging industrial waste into waterways without a permit.
The company is among several indirect subsidiaries of Waste Connections U.S. Holdings, which is facing a $170,000 fine from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its disposal infractions across its Massachusetts facilities.
The Clean Water Act places limits on what substances can be put in waterways, and offers permits for companies to discharge waste with certain restrictions. These permits regulate how much waste can be discharged, requires monitoring and reporting, and other provisions to protect water quality and consumer health.
However, Zero Waste’s parent company did not have one of these permits when the agency inspected it in November 2023, according to an EPA docket. The company has now applied for and received permits for all seven of its facilities and agreed to pay the fine.
The Weweantic River, which flows through Rochester on its path from Carver to Buzzards Bay, was one of the waterways Zero Waste polluted with discharge.
