Vermont Community Leaders Win Funding for Salvage Yards Program: Seek Cleanup of over 200 Illegal Junkyards

Junkyards dot Vermont's picturesque countryside with piles of tires and rusting vehicles. While permitted junkyards play a key role in recycling metal and reusing car parts, illegally operating junkyards can leak toxic fluids and heavy metals, threatening water supplies and public health. A recent statewide survey found 215 illegally operating yards in Vermont. Currently, Toxics Action Center is working with community groups in Milton, Williamstown, Strafford, Georgia, and Sharon to clean up or shut down local sites.

 

In 2010, Lynn and Neal Caldwell of Milton CLEAN, Doreen Chambers of the Williamstown Healthy Environment Neighborhood Alliance, Steve Willbanks of Strafford, and other allies, worked with state legislators to win funding for the new program and establish key environmental protections and notification requirements, such as setbacks from drinking water sources.