Work under way to remove 27,000 tons of carpet from Warren rifle range
WARREN — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the town of Warren and Triumvirate Environmental are preparing to remove and ship 27,000 tons of carpet-like fiber that currently sits on a Route 90 site to a recycling facility in Pennsylvania. The automobile trunk upholstery had been deposited on the 70-acre site for use as fill in constructing soundproofing and shot-containing berms for a shooting range.
Triumvirate Environmental of Somerville, Mass., plans to turn the discarded carpet-like material into commercial building materials.
Intended for the construction of shot and sound containment berms at the former rifle range, the carpet was never used. Only 20 percent of the material was ever incorporated into the landscape of the now-defunct business. The rest was left in massive piles on the back lot of the property where it was was judged to pose a serious fire hazard.
Finding acceptable solutions for cleaning up this site has been a long process for Warren and DEP.
The DEP circulated a request for proposals in 2013, recommending the material be used as an alternative fuel — Dragon Cement of Thomaston was named as a possible buyer — or some other beneficial use to be determined by the applicant. A number of ideas were vetted at an open house at the site in August 2013. Among the companies that looked at the material was a landscaping company that considered grinding it into synthetic mulch.
In 2013, the DEP awarded the contract to Triumvirate, which proposed to turn the fiber into a composite lumber.
This week, the DEP, Warren and Triumvirate began planning for vehicular access onto the site, locating a temporary trailer for site workers, and developing erosion and stormwater controls. Triumvirate plans to begin removing some of the more easily accessible material this fall. A more aggressive removal schedule will begin in April, the DEP said.
The provisions of the contract call for all of the uncovered fiber material, which poses the greatest fire hazard, to be removed from the site by April 2017.
“This is a long-awaited result for both the Town of Warren and DEP,” the DEP said.
Related stories
