EPA officials have announced a settlement with a family-owned, scrap-metal recycling facility in Spencer after complaints about a polluted pond in a city park.
Shine Bros. Corp.has agreed to pay a fine of $120,000 and has already taken steps to clean up the pollution at Pete’s Pond in Spencer. The area, which is next to the Shine Bros. property, was a dump site for construction debris for three decades, but in 1994 officials started converting the area into a city park. The EPA also cited the company for pollution in Spencer’s storm sewer system. Investigators say they found stormwater draining off the 38-acre Shine Brothers property was polluted.
The company’s plant manager issued a statement saying “environmental stewardship is at the heart of the Shine Bros. business model.” Shine Bros. paid to remove materials from Pete’s Pond and brought in new topsoil and reseeded affected areas of the park. That project was completed last month. The company is taking other steps on its own property to prevent future runoff.
In 1902 brothers Sam and Harry Shine began trading furs, metals, pots and pans in Spencer. Today the company processes scrap metal and ships the recycled material to customers around the globe.
Toby Shine is the company’s president. Shine is a former member of the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress, a public-private partnership created nearly four years ago to replace the state-run Iowa Department of Economic Development. A year ago Shine’s company received over $78,000 in state tax credits. In return, the company promised to hire at least four more people as it opens a new, nearly three-and-a-half million dollar research and development center.