The Recycletronics - Akron Farm Facility was an illegal storage location for a recycling business operated by Siouxland PC and Electronics Recycling, LLC (Recycletronics) and its owner. The site is located at 16998 160th Street, Akron, Plymouth County, Iowa on a residential farmstead approximately three miles east of the city of Akron. The site consisted of an approximately 9,000-square-foot storage building located on a residential farmstead. Recycletronics leased the building primarily to store crushed and intact glass cathod ray tubes (CRT).
In April 2017, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Compliance Evaluation Inspection was conducted at the site. A sample of the crushed CRT glass taken from the facility identified lead concentrations of 11 milligrams per liter (mg/L), exceeding the RCRA hazardous waste threshold of 5 mg/L. Lead is a hazardous substance as defined in section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601(14). Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) results confirm that the CRT glass is categorized as a hazardous waste since it exceeds the maximum concentrations for lead listed in 40 C.F.R. 261.24, Table 1.
In May 2021, a referral memo from the Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division - Chemical Branch was submitted to the Superfund Program for further action.
In August 2021, a Removal Site Evaluation was conducted by the Superfund & Emergency Management Division. The removal site evaluation consisted of general site reconnaissance and soil sampling around the approximately 9,000-square-foot storage building. Analytical results from soil samples collected around the building did not identify elevated concentrations of lead or other heavy metals. However, it was clear that the building was in a state of disrepair and had not been maintained. The cardboard gaylord boxes containing the CRT glass had deteriorated and blocked access beyond the first few feet of the building. The siding on one section of the building appeared to have blown off and intact CRT glass had been released outside of the building.
Between March and September 2022, EPA completed a removal action which included the disposal of 944 tons of solid waste to a permitted landfill. No exceedances of the removal management level (RML) were found in the soil samples from the footprint of the waste stockpiles. No further EPA actions are warranted at this time.
