Mayor Sarno and DPW Director Cignoli Announce No Financial Impact or Uninterrupted Trash Service from Bondi’s Island Trash Ownership Change
Springfield, MA – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Department of Public Works (DPW) Director Christopher Cignoli announced today that there will be no financial impacts or uninterrupted trash service for residents from the Bondi’s Island Trash to Energy Incinerator ownership change.
On April 14, 2022, a bankruptcy sale was held that transferred the ownership of the Bondi’s Island Trash to Energy Incinerator from Community EcoPower to F&G Recycling, a division of USA Hauling and Recycling. As part of the sale, the incinerator building will be decommissioned immediately and the facility will act as a transfer station for the City of Springfield’s Municipal Solid Waste, as well as other municipalities and private hauling companies throughout Western Massachusetts. F&G will begin the coordination process with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) immediately to secure all of the necessary permits for proper approvals for a Transfer Station. The City of Springfield will be monitoring that status of any permits issued for the facility.
Mayor Sarno states, “First off, I want to reassure our residents that there will be no financial impact and no interruption of trash services for our residents from this private ownership change of the Bondi’s Island Trash site. My administration has reached an interim agreement for the disposal of our solid waste and the day-to-day collection of residential trash barrels will not change. In addition, we have been reassured that during this transitional period there will be no odor issues as F&G works with the State, DEP and the City to repurpose the site. I want to thank City Solicitor Judge John Payne and DPW Director Chris Cignoli for their dedicated efforts monitoring this situation and working to secure that the best interest of the City of Springfield and our residents were considered during this transfer of ownership.”
The City of Springfield has signed an interim disposal agreement with F&G to accept all of the City’s Municipal Solid Waste, which totals approximately 47,000 tons per year. This change in operation will not have any impact to the residents of Springfield, as the day-to-day collection and disposal operations will not change. There will also be no financial impact to the City as net tipping fees will not be impacted.
F&G, as part of their permitting processes through the DEP, has stated that the facility will have all of the necessary state-of-the-art odor control devices, and solid waste will be removed from the site on a daily basis eliminating any possibility of long-term storage of waste.
DPW Director Cignoli stated, “We have been involved in the legal aspects of the bankruptcy filing for over almost a year and have been coordinating with our new vendor on an agreement that will continue to provide uninterrupted trash services to our residents, along with no financial impact to the City of Springfield. Our residents will see absolutely no change in services. We have also received the necessary assurances from F&G that there will not be any odor issues due to all of the material handling occurring inside of the facility.”
Of note, the City’s contract for the disposal of recycling materials and yard waste will not be impacted as those services are with other vendors.