Middleboro orders stinking recycling plant to stop work
Piles of organic material at A-Plus Waste Recycling on River Street. Submitted photo
Piles of organic material at A-Plus Waste Recycling on River Street. Submitted photo
MIDDLEBORO — The town is taking a stand against the stink.
The Middleboro Health Department sent a cease and desist letter to A-Plus Waste & Recycling Services on Nov. 3 following a Select Board executive session. The letter ordered the recycling plant to stop taking in new organic material and remove all compost by Nov. 10.
Residents of River Street, where the plant operates, have complained to the town government and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for years. Many neighbors told the Select Board at an Oct. 26 meeting that the smell, which River Street resident Jamie Meserve described as a mix of “rotten milk, vomit, bad cheese [and] trash,” has caused people to vomit and made people’s lives “hell.”
Health Director Eric Badger said that Ronald High, who operates A-Plus, hired a lawyer to represent him at a Nov. 16 hearing with the Select Board, which operates as the town’s Board of Health.
Badger said he is unsure if High has completely ceased operations and received reports about the smell over the weekend.
The Plymouth Superior Court blocked the plant from operating in 2022, but it reopened soon after once High self-certified with the Department of Environmental protection.
Nemasket Week has reached out to High by email. As of the time of writing, he has not responded.
