Metal shredder divides Bellingham over the role of industry

Controversy is brewing in Bellingham over a former cement plant, a Canadian metal recycling company, and a lot of concerned neighbors.

Earlier this year, residents of northwest Bellingham learned that ABC Recycling had purchased industrial land just outside city limits and had plans to build a metal shredder. Many were concerned about the noise and potential for fires and pollution that a shredder might generate.

The shredder will take cars and appliances and turn them into smaller pieces of cars and appliances, which will then be shipped overseas through Bellingham’s port to be recycled.

The EPA published an enforcement alert about shredders in 2021. The agency and state investigations identified Clean Air Act violations at metal recycling facilities with shredders across the U.S.

"In that EPA notice, they say that the main ways in which you contain and reduce emissions are that you take a really good close look at the material that comes into the shredder and that the shredder is enclosed. And we will be doing both of those things," said Riley Sweeney, the community relations manager for ABC Recycling.

The shredder is expected to generate 12 to 15 jobs, a number which could eventually climb to 30, according to ABC Recycling.

Sweeney said that those jobs hearken back to Bellingham's industrial past, when there was work "that could support a whole family with one person."

Sarah Gardner, the president of the Birchwood Neighborhood Association, said she wasn't opposed to jobs, per se, but did take issue with heavy industry nearby.

"It's an incongruous kind of argument that people opposing ABC recycling are also opposing the maritime community," Gardner said. "We want the sustainability of those jobs, of that work, of the fisheries, of the marine businesses down the waterfront."

The conflict points to a central question about how Bellingham residents see the role of heavy industry in the town's future.

"People have gotten used to the quiet. They've gotten used to a much reduced level of industry in ... what used to be — historically — a very industrial town, and people are not ready to go back in time in that sense," said Ralph Schwartz, who is following the story for the Cascadia Daily News.

Listen to Soundside’s full conversation with Ralph Schwartz by clicking the play icon at the top of this story.