DEC Foils A Dirty Scheme In Putnam County

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — A local business was cited by the state Department of Environmental Conservation for crunching up construction and demolition debris to look like clean fill.

According to DEC officers, a homeowner in Kent answered an ad on Craigslist in May for “free fill.”

He received several tons of non-exempt fill made to look like clean fill by an industrial screener, which sifts rock and dirt mixed with construction and demolition debris into unrecognizable fill material.

After an investigation by ECO Anthony Drahms and DEC Materials Management, the fill was traced back to a nearby site, which received and processed C&D debris without a permit.

On Aug. 28, ECOs Dustin Dainack, Anthony Drahms, and Chloe Swansen visited the site and issued two summonses for Unlawful Disposal of Solid Waste for the non-exempt fill dumped at the complainant’s property and for Receiving, Treating and Processing C&D Debris Without a Permit. All charges are pending in Town of Kent Court. The DEC did not release the name of the processing site.

PHOTO: An industrial screener sifts rock and dirt mixed with construction and demolition debris into unrecognizable fill material / DEC