Ohio EPA issues notice of violation to Hebron-based plastic recycler

Chemical recycling company south of Heath is working with the Ohio EPA to resolve pollution

Freepoint Eco-Systems, a plastic chemical recycling facility in the Newark Industrial Park of Hebron, has received a notice of violation from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) for unsafe air quality within the facility.

OEPA is also looking at possible violations of Freepoint’s emissions permit after EPA officials saw black smoke coming from its stacks in early February. This permit regulates what enters the air from the building’s stacks, including chemicals such as styrene, dioxins and furans that could cause cancer or neurological problems.

Freepoint Eco-Systems, in the Newark Industrial Park of Hebron. Photo by Doug Swift.

Freepoint Eco-Systems, in the Newark Industrial Park of Hebron. Photo by Doug Swift.

Freepoint officials say they are working with OEPA and other regulatory agencies to address these issues.

“We are working with local, state, and federal authorities to coordinate our process improvements,” the company said in a statement, and these authorities “continue to exercise oversight of our operations to ensure we comply with all regulations and codes.”

Freepoint uses a process commonly referred to as “advanced recycling,” or “chemical recycling” to manage discarded plastic materials. The company’s facility at 522 Milliken Drive, in Union Township between Heath and Hebron, takes in all kinds of plastics, regardless of the recycling number within the circling arrows stamped into the plastic.

The company shreds these plastic materials into small pieces, then feeds them into kilns that reach temperatures of 600 degrees. In an energy-intensive process called pyrolysis, plastic molecules are separated. The resulting product, or “feedstock,” can be used to create new plastic products.

In some states, pyrolysis operations are regulated as incinerators. In Ohio, operations like Freepoint are regulated as "recycling" operations.

The Connecticut-based company told The Advocate newspaper in Newark in 2022 that it would employ 70 people at the former Walker Manufacturing plant and have the capacity to recycle approximately 90,000 tons of plastic waste per year using its pyrolysis technology.

One person who indicated they are a Freepoint employee anonymously posted in a Google review in November: “Not a safe place to work. You don't realize how sick this place makes you until you get out of it.” The Reporting Project was unable to verify the identity of the poster.

This person also posted pictures they said are from inside the plant showing piles of plastic bits scattered across the plant floor. They mentioned that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the OEPA were called in to investigate working conditions.

Dina Pierce, public information officer of OEPA, said that Freepoint had received a permit to operate with an expectation of minimal particulate matter within the facility.

“The company calculated emissions from its shredding operation would be low enough to qualify for the permit exemption,” Pierce said.

OEPA conducted a site visit at Freepoint on Oct. 17, 2024 in response to a “dust complaint,” according to a Notice of Violation issued the following day.

OEPA and Freepoint reached an agreement to resolve the dust problem, according to Pierce. “To resolve the violations,” she said, “the company plans to install three dust collectors and two vacuum systems to control dust emissions from the shredding, sorting, and conveying operation. This will improve indoor air quality at the facility and control the particulate (dust) emissions before it escapes outside.”

Wendy Lewis, managing director of Freepoint, said that the Hebron facility had recently come on line when the problems with indoor air quality arose. Lewis said that Freepoint seeks to make improvements because she said worker safety is a top priority.

One area of improvement would be dust collection, which the company confirmed “was reported by employees to regulatory authorities.”

The Reporting Project does not have independent information about whether all dust collectors and vacuum systems have been installed since October. Reporters from TRP did talk to some workers outside of the plant on Feb. 8. Two said they were “very happy” to be working at the plant, but declined to say more until they conferred with the company public relations department.

Freepoint says that advanced recycling creates a circular economy in which plastic can be reused instead of discarded, helping solve the world’s plastic crisis. The “crisis,” according to scientists who study the issue, is that the world is drowning in discarded plastic material. By 2050, there will be as much plastic in the oceans as fish, according to the World Economic Forum. Scientists are also discovering as much microplastics in human brains as a single plastic spoon.

Vicky Abou-Ghalioum, of the Buckeye Environmental Network (BEN), told The Reporting Project that “ending plastic waste can only come from ending the use of plastic.” She and other environmentalists argue that advanced recycling is nothing more than a distraction from the real problem: the over-production and use of plastic.

First page of the OEPA's notice of violation to Freepoint Eco-System.

Interior of Freepoint Eco-System, showing particulate matter on the floor, according to anonymous poster on Google Review.

Video of Freepoint Eco-Systems stacks, by Amanda Rowoldt, of Moms Clean Air Force.

More recently, Amanda Rowoldt, from the group Moms Clean Air Force, posted a video on Instagram showing black smoke rising from Freepoint’s stacks in Hebron.

Pierce said that the color of the smoke matters, because the OEPA recognizes “opacity limits.”

Emissions from burning plastic can contain styrene, dioxins and furans, “all known carcinogens,” said Abou-Ghalioum from Buckeye Environmental Network. “So ironically, you throw [your single-use plastics] in the recycling bin, a lot of it will now end up at this facility and be burned at very high heat that produces very toxic chemical emissions.”

OEPA said that it was “on site to meet with Freepoint representatives and to observe emissions coming from the company's stacks” on Thursday, Feb. 13.

Pierce said that, “while this is an ongoing investigation, our top priority is always putting public health and the environment first, and we should know more in the coming days.”

Abou-Ghalioum said that “the Buckeye Environmental Network does not believe that the plastic incineration technology is a viable pathway out of the plastic pollution crisis. BEN takes the position that the only way to end the plastic pollution crisis is to stop producing plastic.”

This is the first article of a series in which The Reporting Project looks at the issue of plastic and microplastics, and its impact on Licking County. You can help us.

If you have any expertise, thoughts, concerns, or questions about these or any other dynamics of the plastics issue, you can leave a message on Doug Swift's phone line, 740-587-5335, or write him at swiftd@denison.edu.

Doug Swift writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program. Contact Swift at swiftd@denison.edu or by phone at 740-587-5335.

Denison journalism students Katie Nader and Ellen Hansen contributed to this story. The Reporting Project is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.