I kinda skimmed over the first portions of this thread, so forgive me if you already described the "venue" in question. Sounded to me like it was indoors and contained to the extent that we weren't talking about air pollution.
Like I said, I did some very basic research on the process and I'm almost 100% sure that it's emitting toxins. I'm also nearly 100% sure they are doing this without a permit and without proper provisions in place. This one extruder is making a 400,000 square foot facility reek of burning plastic. Their idea of ventalation is opening a few bay doors. Which doesn't work at all.
The epa is one of the more radical ran agencies of the government. The sue and settle stuff has really flew under the radar.
I believe they would consider it waste. It's leftover styrofoam from our products that they are partially incinerating.
If waste isn't properly disposed of, including fumes from burning plastic, it's considered a risk to the environment. I'm not 100% sure what they're burning, but most ventilation systems for burning anything in an industrial setting has some type of "air scrubbers" which either eliminate or collects the environmentally unfriendly fumes. If there isn't a proper system in place to vent and or dispose of waste, the EPA will rip them a new ass hole.
Like I said earlier, the guy that sold them the extruder said with the amount they'd want to be pushing through it they'd have to hire someone on at a full-time clip. That tells me that it is quite a bit of toxins being emitted.
The EPA makes my life harder and some common sense applications of their rules would help, but they do serve a pretty good purpose
I worked at a plastic extrusion company with 40 extruders running 24/7 and I never felt like I was breathing in straight carcinogens. And that was 40 lines running. That tells me there isn't anything remotely close to proper ventalation.
I've never messed with that. I've installed ventilation for paint booths, carbon monoxide, metals of all kinds, fiberglass and natural gas.
I did briefly work on a litigation related to the Bethpage toxic plume. That's some messed up stuff. Back in the 50's Northrup-Grumman would dump all of these really harsh contaminants they would use for like degreasing airplanes and what not into this single big ass pit. It slowly made its way down to the drinking water plume. There's not a ton from a technology perspective they can do if the groundwater is polluted to a certain level.
My sister worked for them for a couple of years and also the costal commission. Both took great delight in ****ing over rich people and big business. Costa commision would have parties anytime they stuck it to anyone wealthy and actively looked for loopholes to get after them and took great delight in finding any reason to turn down any request to build anything on a personal property. They also had a huge party and let everyone off work at noon when obama got elected, but I digress.
It's a very real possibility. I've mentioned to multiple employees and managers that I thought this was a bad idea and was unhealthy. That was without any research. Knowing what I know now, I'm inclined to do something about it. Just consider this getting a toe in the water. I just wanted to know if there was any legal actions available and get general thoughts from anyone. Not disappointed. I appreciate all the input.
Yes, that's what I was doing. Wrong night for the feisty pants, my man. Great fun to get a rise out of you without even an attempt, though.
