Environmental education forum at Shikellamy to focus on Encina

Aug 18, 2023

SUNBURY — State Sen. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-27, Sunbury, is holding a public educational forum on Aug. 14, in which several state watchdog organizations will respond to questions about the environmental effects of the Encina Plastics Recycling facility in Point Township, on the Susquehanna River and surrounding area.

“The forum will be held at the Shikellamy High School auditorium. The Department of Environmental Protection, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, the Fish and Game Commission and the Chesapeake Bay Commission are expected to be in attendance, said Culver, on Wednesday night.

Each agency will speak individually on their permitting process, then they will have tables set up in the corridor area of the auditorium.

“I am sure that Encina plans to follow the applicable laws with regard to treating the river water they use in their washing process,” said Sandy Field, a member of the Save Our Susquehanna Group. “The thing that concerns me most with regard to the water is what they will put back in the river after washing the post-consumer plastic is microplastics and PFAS (“Forever chemicals”) that are an integral part of plastic waste.

“These contaminants will be in the effluent from their process.”

Field said that PFAS and microplastics in wastewater are not currently regulated by the EPA or state law.

“Pennsylvania just started regulating two of the thousands of PFAS chemicals that are associated with plastics but that law only applies to drinking water not discharge,” Field said. “Following all the current regulations will simply not protect us and the river from the waste from this plant.”