DEC shuts down Hillcrest furnaces

ATTICA, N.Y. (WIVB) - The DEC has shut down Hillcrest furnaces after finding glass particles in the air, posing a health risk that Attica residents have been fearing.

Attica resident Jacquie Hiczewski said, “My son has been sick since January. This is the third lung infection he has had."

Hiczewski weighed in at a public meeting last month over the odor coming from a glass and plastic recycling pile on the property of Hillcrest Industries last month.

Attica Village Trustee John Perry said, “As they crushed the glass, the glass particulates were flying up into the air through their filters. Whether it was faulty filters, or maybe through their stacks somehow. The DEC is going to deal with that problem.”

This is a separate problem from the odor that has been plaguing the area throughout the summer. The problem of the burning recycled glass and plastic mound has been worked on over the last week.

John Perry also gave us an update on the progress of extinguishing the fire. He said, “Everything there was going well, they're about 25 percent of the pile has been removed to other parts of the land there."

The DEC has ordered Hillcrest to fix the furnaces, so they will stop spitting out those tiny glass pieces. After Hillcrest makes those repairs, DEC workers will come back to test the furnaces. Only then will the plant be allowed to turn them back on.