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One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
At least, that’s the sentiment some residents say is driving a controversial proposal to build a waste transfer station at the site of a bottling plant in the New Bedford Industrial Park.
The city’s Board of Health assessed the plan to build a $30 million-plus transfer station at 100 Duchaine Blvd. on Tuesday night, the first of four public hearings this month to evaluate the project’s potential impact to the surrounding neighborhood and wetlands. Several dozen people attended the nearly three-hour meeting at the Casimir Pulaski Elementary School.
Proposed by Parallel Products doing business as South Coast Renewables, LLC, the 215,000-square-foot transfer station would process 1,500 tons of solid waste per day, sorting out material from across the South Coast region to either be recycled or destroyed elsewhere. The proposed site sits less than 600 feet from the nearest residential home and abuts the Acushnet Cedar Swamp State Reservation, a national natural landmark.
With the nearby Crapo Hill Landfill in Dartmouth set to reach capacity in the next few years, proponents argue the site is a necessary boon to the region’s waste management woes, allowing the community to export waste out of state more efficiently. Critics question the station’s effectiveness in addressing a complicated waste problem and cite concerns around noise, odor, air pollution, and New Bedford’s designation as an environmental justice community disproportionately burdened with health hazards.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection approved the plan last month after an extended review process and 42-day public comment period. On July 23, the environmental nonprofit the Conservation Law Foundation moved to appeal the decision and delay the review before instead requesting that the Board of Health extend the deadline to receive filed testimony.
The board’s approval would mark one of the last local hurdles the project faces in its multiyear development. If approved, the project would move to the city’s Planning Board and Conservation Commission.
Tuesday’s hearing revolved around the applicant’s plans to mitigate litter and vectors, disease-carrying vermin that can include rats, raccoons, and seagulls. On Wednesday night, the applicant will share plans to control air pollution and odor. On Thursday, members of the public will be able to give comments. The applicant will also present a traffic study on Aug. 26.
If you go
The New Bedford Board of Health is holding public hearings on the following dates at 6:30 p.m. at Casimir Pulaski Elementary School, 1097 Braley Road, New Bedford:
- Wednesday, Aug. 6: Air pollution, noise and odor mitigation
- Thursday, Aug. 7: Public comment
- Tuesday, Aug. 26: Traffic study and mitigation
A small group of protesters — including one man dressed as a dumptruck — handed out pamphlets ahead of Tuesday’s meeting to make their objections heard. One attendee glued plastic rodents to a poster that read, “The Rats Are Coming.”
Wendy Morrill of South Coast Neighbors United has fought against the project since its inception, pointing to past instances in which waste transfer stations have caused a litany of problems for neighboring residents. Earlier this year, a waste transfer station on Shawmut Avenue in New Bedford caught fire and later became infested with rats.
“[The project] is going to be pitched as a solution to the waste crisis, but it’s just moving trash around,” Morrill said Tuesday evening before the hearing. “That’s not really a solution. That’s just a money grab…it’s moving trash around and making money off of that on the backs of people who live and work in this community.”
Greg Wirsen, the vice president of the environmental consulting firm Green Seal Environmental, LLC, presented South Coast Renewables’ plan for the site. Among other mitigation efforts, Wirsen said the station would process waste almost entirely indoors, limiting the trash’s exposure to potential vectors and to the surrounding environment. Wirsen said the site would also use bait stations, glue traps, burrow inspections, and sterilization measures, among other efforts, to keep rats at bay.
Representing concerned residents, Attorney Alexandra Enriquez St. Pierre with the Conservation Law Foundation asked Wirsen if he knew that no vector control measures could ever be 100 percent effective. Wirsen replied that there were no rats at the facility to date.
“To date the facility does not handle municipal solid waste,” St. Pierre said.
Amy Knight, a senior project manager at Civil and Environmental Consultants, Inc. and witness for the Board of Health, later testified that she did not believe a vermin control program had to be 100 percent effective to avoid public impact.
Brooke Kushwaha is an environment reporter and can be reached at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
Where is the common sense ? ? ? Our local and state politicians are elected to serve and protect the citizens of this State, Cities, and Towns. With our areas long history of problems with contaminated sites, just take a few minutes and look them up online (the Aerovox, Sullivan’s Ledge, Atlas Tack in Fairhaven, the Re-Solve Superfund Site in Dartmouth, and the 18,000 PCB-laden acres in New Bedford Harbor. Why would the city and state officials take the chance of creating another area that will create poor air quality, could make people sick, and possibly create another future Environmental Disaster / Superfund site? The health and safety of this city’s residents should be the number one priority and the expansion of South Coast Renewables, LLC / Parallel Products or any other company that would have any possibility of bringing harm to our residents and the environment should not move forward.
Well said!
Where should New Bedford solid waste be processed?
Clean up of major environmental contamination in this city started in the early 1980’s (over 40 years ago).
Shouldn’t the question be why didn’t our political leaders establish a new commercial zone that would oversee and regulate the areas that could be used for development of future trash facilities and complete reviews, public hearings, and discussions first for the impacts to air quality, water, soils, the environment, traffic, neighborhoods, residents health, and the possible creation of another Superfund cleanup site before ever being able to apply for State Approvals.
City leaders should have learned from past mistakes, time to vote this down, and start a search for an area that would better serve the city and protect the environment and residents of this city and neighboring towns.
The proposed area is zoned industrial.
Then it’s time for the development of a new zone for all new trash, recycling, and hazardous waste facilities to protect communities from contamination of air quality, ground water, soils, increase in neighborhood traffic, and residents incurring health issues.
This transfer station is not for New Bedford. Parallel Products (rebranded as South Coast Renewables) is merely taking advantage of New Bedford’s situation and resources. In fact, Wirsten could not state one local company that would benefit from dumping their waste in New Bedford as opposed to driving elsewhere. He spoke of New Bedford in hypothetical generalizations but could discuss larger companies by name and States (like Arizona!) that would send their trash by rail to Massachusetts. Those are the customers they want.
Wirsten’s answers were laced with entitlement as he strived to impress upon the BOH how long Paralell Products/SCR has waited to get this millions-of-dollors project off the ground. It’s all about the money, not the people. We could choke on trash for all they care.
Wirsten is not from PP/SCR. He’s from Green Seal. It’s just more green-washing! Wirsten selectively spoke with We’s and They’s, but that could not mask how in bed he is with the Big Trash business. To these folks, more trash is more money. They want to bring it in and haul it out in as large of quantities as they can! As FAST as they can!
More trash is more money.
If you are even remotely angry about the way America “manages” its power and resources to disproportionally benefit the uber-wealthy and corporations, this issue has a lot to motivate you to seek change closer to home. The BOH hearings are a troubling example of what is wrong with America today. The three people on the BOH — three people who may not even realize how independent they are! — stand between the MassDEP’s corrupt decisions and the public’s health. And PP/SCR is doing all they can to limit which information they CAN consider when making their determination.
Please look deeper. This is not about Crapo Hill or jobs creation. On the contrary, PP/SCR are being pretty clear about their goal, inexperience, and ommissions. PP/SCR are working hard to exclude all the evidence they can because they KNOW what the consequences of their business are.
Wirsten proudly said there were no rats at the site now. But he spoke of burrows as if rats cannot be passing nearby/through. And most importantly, there isn’t organic waste there — YET! He’s deliberately blurring the facts.
And what of the flies? Mosquitoes? Or any other insect or mammal we have yet to consider?
This site is too near residences, businesses, and sensitive nature. It’s common sense, and Wirsten knows this. That’s why he speaks of feet and low-value miles as if they are vast quantities. If you’d have heard his voice! He spoke of half a mile like it was MILES away. The disregard for human life and well-being was disgusting.
Even their mitigation is spoken of vaguely. They’ll sweep, they say. Then, later, they sneak in “when its practical to do so.”
The mayor should have NEVER allowed himself to be gagged on this issue. He is supposed to represent us! Government is suposed to protect the people and not sell them out to the highest bidder!
It’s all about the money. It will be bait and switch, just like the train station in the north end was.
Rat poison kills many of the animals that eat rats… like owls eagles, hawks, and other birds of prey. It also kills cats and dogs.
Send it offshore to a processing plant on Pasque Island, population 2! Welcome nirvanna to the real world! Unfortunately, money talks and New Bedford just walks!
When municipal landfills were capped and closed in the 1990s, most were converted to small transfer stations. Although the majority of the materials handled through these stations is supposed to be clean recycling, they all have containers for overflow municipal solid waste (i.e., bagged household trash) and consequently they all hire pest control services. Rats, raccoons, seagulls and turkey vultures all live in New England and make up a percentage of the natural population with or without transfer stations. Pest control does not eliminate these creatures from our environment, nor would or should we want it to. It keeps the population within the boundaries of what occurs naturally. It would be wonderful if we could become a “Zero Waste” world. If you have ever tried it, you will know how tough it is to do. So the waste we produce needs to be processed for reuse/recycle or disposal. We generate it…and we need to manage it, not NIMBY it. But we need to insist and be aware of how the companies we hire to do this respect us and our environment.
I think it’s sad when individuals show more understanding for companies and powerful leaders than their fellow neighbors. The people speaking up for themselves and their communities are not NIMBY-ing anything. They are doing the research and engaging in the process. They are trying their hardest to be heard and understood. They do a lot more than say, “Not In My Backyard.” And whenever they are presented as such, you might want to question the intention of those summarizing their efforts that way.
In this country, the wealthy and the powerful decide our laws and “representation.” This is becoming increasingly obvious. People have every reason and right to be upset, and it is a lot more involved than “NIMBY.”
Recycling is too often an illusion and the burden of trash has been hoisted on the everyday citizen’s shoulders. Corporations are barely encouraged or incentivized to create less waste. It’s not that a “Zero Waste” life is hard, it’s that the main culprits aren’t even trying.
And the recent rat situation highlighted that burden. Residents were asked to stop composting! So, even the efforts we take to help our environment could be curtailed further by the Big Trash business.
The corporations don’t need our sympathy. The people do. The corporations have their lobbyists, and through them, they have our representatives.
MassDEP assigned a positive designation to this project because they put businesses above people. And the MassDEP plays the finger-pointing game. It’s not their fault, it’s the regulations…
The most powerful in this country have the least accountability. And they’ve proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted to police themselves. Parallel Products/South Coast Renewables are already not taking good care of that land or respecting the people. Any insistence that they “respect us and our environment” will fall on deaf ears. They’ve demonstrated this in their actions over the last several years.
Parallel Products/South Coast Renewables are making it clear that they will exploit this area as freely as they are allowed.
I hope the BOH members fight for the people because left and right, America and its resources are being sold off to the highest bidder.
New Bedford deserves better, and here is a place where the people can take a stand.
Christina, you are 100% correct, New Bedford does deserve better, we need new leadership in City Hall.
Well said!
If we didn’t buy all this junk from china we might have had a chance!
You ever look at Shawmut Avenue dump? That’s full of junk from the good ol’ USA!
Although the Board of Health has basically ruled a yes on this project, I still have a glimmer of hope that they will deny it & have Parallel aka Southcoast Renewables (tomato, tamato) appeal it and hopefully it will be denied indefinitely! This site does not belong near us – they can pursue it but not there.
To think that this Board of Health would put local residents in harms way and approve a facility that has the potential to contaminate another area of New Bedford. It’s time for change, we need new leadership in City Hall.
Agree! How about in the mayor’s neighborhood.
Just one word. SHAMEFUL
Yes, a regional waste recycling center with it’s convoy of trucks, waste, and smell will impact the local neighborhoods, but an expansion within the New Bedford Industrial park will also impact the Acushnet Cedar Swamp State Reservation, which would qualify as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. This relatively intact reserve filters stormwater, protects New Bedford from flooding, cleans the air and provides habitat for a range of rare and endangered species. I researched, wrote and created descriptive panels about the Acushnet Cedar Swamp, which are on display within the airport lobby, with copies to the New Bedford Conservation Commission. The Acushnet Cedar Swamp contains dense, nearly pure stands of Atlantic white cedar, forming one of the largest, wildest and most impenetrable swamps in Massachusetts. The wetland complex contains swamp, bog, pond and adjacent upland. It is managed by the MA DEM and has been designated a National Natural Landmark. forest.https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nnlandmarks/site.htm?Site=ACCE-MA
Yet, the critical landscape is not adequately protected by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection- DEP, or the city of New Bedford. Placing a dumping facility within a filled island of industrial uses is a real concern to the integrity of the Cedar Swamp as a natural ecosystem worthy of protection against contamination and fragmentation.
Wow. Thanks for the info!
Working for a residential household, in Southeastern Massachusetts, nothing, every single week, is ever landfilled. (Only the recycling bin is put out every other week.) All food scraps are composted in a compost pile. Plastic film bags received from weekly meal deliveries are taken every so often to the grocery store for recycling. Difficult to recycle materials, like ….. chip bags, broken rubber bands, used pens, used toothpaste tubes, used toothbrushes, torn clothing, plastic overwraps, milk cartons, laminated paper plates, yogurt cups, receipts, etc. are all put into two TerraCycle, Inc. bins to eventually be picked up by UPS. The residential household uses both cloth unpaper towels and cloth napkins. And, whenever dining out/staying at hotels, reusables (durable cups, durable mugs, silverware, durable plates, durable bowls, cloth napkins, cloth unpaper towels) are always used. The residential household really cares about both their community in Southeastern Massachusetts and the environment.
So basically, New Bedford residents are vehemently opposed to this but the board of health will approve it anyway.
Where should our trash go? I’m not taking a position on the transfer station just asking. I apologize for not having more information but it is unclear. Thanks
New Bedford and Dartmouth trash goes to the Crapohill Landfill less than 1.5 miles from Parallel Products/SCR so this facility is for the rest of the state and neighboring states, not New Bedford. New Bedford used to have a marketing slogan “Destination New Bedford” and the rest of the slogan should be “over 400,000 tons of trash per year.”
In addition to commenting here, residents should be commenting to Board of Health. As Mr Ingoldsby commented, it will impact the Acushnet Cedar Swamp. Another resident commented at the BOH hearing, that although the water table is 2 feet below the proposed floor of the facility, stress cracks will inevitably be caused by the weight of the filled trash trucks and filled rail cars and the leachate from the water used to hose down the floor will leak into the water table. Even if you don’t live in this neighborhood, you will be affected by the water quality. Everyone uses water daily for cooking, showering, laundry etc. You could probably afford bottled water to brush your teeth but most of us can’t afford the cost of the bottled water needed for everyday use. Do we want to be another Flint, Michigan?
I’d like to remind residents that New Bedford already has 2 Superfund sites ( NB Harbor and Sullivan’s Ledge), a closed landfill, former Parker St dump, EL Harvey permitted for 1500 tons/day and now PP will bring in another 1500 tons/day. What is the saturation point for a city 24.1 sq miles, not all of it land mass? And if this business fails, the cleanup will fall on the taxpayers of New Bedford. We’re already cleaning up Brownfields. There’s one on Duchaine Blvd about a mile from PP that was abandoned by owner when they couldn’t afford cost of cleanup of PCBs. The city clean it up to the best of its ability but PCBs entered wetlands of Hobomock Swamp. Maybe the hazards weren’t as well known as they are now or maybe people just didn’t care.
For the South End residents who ended up with the waste water treatment center, I’m sorry that happened to you. The City was under tremendous pressure due to a consent decree and exorbitant fines. This is a private enterprise looking to make money at the expense of New Bedford residents, a very different situation. When nearby property values drop and the resulting real estate taxes, everyone’s taxes will have to go up to make up the lost revenue so in my opinion, everyone will be affected one way or another be it taxes, water quality, rats, air quality, fire, traffic, noise to name a few. Please voice your concerns to the Board of Health before 8/26/25.
A video of rats in Pine Hill was shown during the 8/7/25 hearing. The homeowner lives across from PP. My research found an article from Successful Farming that said one pair of rats could create up to 15,000 descendants in their one year life span. So if you’re thinking, it was only 2 rats, think again or you might be seeing their relatives in your neighborhood, your yard and hopefully not in your home.