Port of Bellingham Commission terminates metal recycler’s agreements

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Today, Monday, March 25th, the Port of Bellingham commissioners held a meeting where they voted to end business relations with Canada-based ABC Recycling. ABC is now required to shut down operations on the Bellingham waterfront by June 30th.

Approximate location of port facilities

ABC Recycling will permanently shut down operations on Bellingham’s waterfront due to ongoing concerns about ABC’s ability to comply with the terms of their lease, especially environmental standards. The Port Commission approved a lease termination agreement with ABC Recycling this afternoon.
“We are unhappy to lose any employer which supports Union labor and family-wage jobs,” said Port Executive Director Rob Fix. “But metal is a challenging cargo which requires expensive engineering controls to protect water quality. While ending a lease is never an easy decision, safeguarding the environment will always remain our top priority.”
ABC Recycling has until June 30, 2024 to remove all scrap metal from the waterfront. The metal will be loaded onto two cargo vessels and the Port will enforce enhanced environmental measures to protect water quality.
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ABC started operations in June 2022 on land reserved for job-creating uses next to the Bellingham Shipping Terminal. ABC anticipated loading metal onto cargo vessels every 4-6 weeks using ILWU labor, but so far has loaded only 4 vessels. ABC’s departure creates new opportunities to reactivate the land with more job intensive uses. Port of Bellingham (March 25, 2024)

ABC is reportedly continuing to work with Whatcom County to build a metal shredder facility in the area of Marine Drive and Alderwood Avenue that would have created the metal material to be loaded on the ships. That process is currently being handled at a Canadian facility. Now that those ships will no longer be arriving at port facilities, the future of that project seems uncertain.

Approximate location of proposed metal shredder facility

Both the metal handling at the port facility and the proposed metal shredder facility have met with significant levels of citizen complaints due to experienced and expected loud noises.