A public meeting held in Fort Worth on Tuesday drew crowds eager to weigh in on plans to build a recycling facility near Lake Worth.
Hundreds of Tarrant County residents streamed into the Brewer High School auditorium for the meeting with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) called by Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth). Front and center was the proposal to erect the BAP Kennor C&D Recycling Facility at 3411 Silver Creek Rd. The 6.6-acre structure would take in approximately 450 tons of construction and demolition waste each day.
The site was previously used as a landfill and a gravel quarry, but it has been inactive since 1985. BAP Kennor is aiming to reactivate the landfill permit, which must be done by the TCEQ.
However, there has been considerable pushback from the community, with many concerned about the risk of contamination of the local environs.
“They only tell you what you want to hear,” said Garry Wilson, a former White Settlement city council member, who referred to BAP Kennor’s explanation of the project as a “fiasco,” according to the Fort Worth Report. “That’s our drinking water. It would only take one little leak to get into it. And you’re not going to know that you’ve been drinking contaminated water for a long time. They say they’re going to test it on a regular basis, but they won’t.”
Others are worried that the recycling facility might worsen road conditions and congestion issues in the vicinity.
“It is already taxed from increased traffic and needs maintenance as it is,” said Fort Worth City Council Member Macy Hill.
Hill and Geren are not the only public leaders against the project, with Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, and Tarrant Regional Water District board member James Hill voicing opposition.
A representative of BAP Kennor, Frank Pugsley, spoke at the meeting, explaining to the audience that the recycling center would be a major win in cleaning up waste by limiting the need to divert recyclable trash from landfills and decreasing illegal dumping.
“We’re providing a convenient option for commercial recycling efforts in the region so that it doesn’t end up on the side of the road, and it doesn’t consume the landfill space that we are running out of,” Pugsley said.
The TCEQ stated that it would respond to the residents’ concerns ahead of filing a recommendation to its executive director, who has the final say in the application to reactivate the landfill permit.
Plans to erect a recycling facility on a 15-acre site near PGA Parkway in Frisco were recently revealed, as covered in The Dallas Express. This represents the second endeavor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area by the Austin-based firm Balcones, which will also be opening a recycling site in McKinney in spring 2026 after being awarded a 15-year recycling contract by city authorities.
