NYC recycling center crop dusting neighborhood with ‘choking' stink that has state fuming: ‘Literally gag'
State regulators first raised a stink about the noxious fumes from Green Asphalt back in January 2024, when the company was accused of spewing emissions that 'unreasonably interfered with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property' in violation of the New York State Air Pollution Control Law.
7 New Yorkers living near Newtown Creek are calling on an asphalt recycling plant to stop releasing smelly, noxious fumes that 'choke' nearby residents.
X / Blissville Civic Association
7 The Green Asphalt recycling plant on Railroad Avenue in Queens.
Brigitte Stelzer
But locals said take a whiff of the air along the Newtown Creek and the chemical odor has only gotten worse since then.
'At first it was a choking smell – I'm talking about how you would literally gag when you go outside,' said Tom Mituzas, a longtime resident of the Blissville section of the neighborhood and member of the Blissville Civic Organization.
'Your eyes would tear because the smokestacks are so low,' Mituzas said of the plant, which opened in 2011. 'The smoke would stay at street level, and you'd go out of your house and you'd breathe [fumes] in, and you'd just choke.'
The resident told The Post he moved his 95-year-old aunt from her childhood home last summer because he was afraid 'she was going to die in the house' due to the fumes that seep indoors.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has continued to receive 'numerous' complaints about the odor — and its potential health effects, officials wrote in a letter to the plant Wednesday.
'The department has continued to regularly receive numerous community complaints and inquiries regarding both the odor emanating from the facility and potential human health implications associated with emissions from the facility,' the DEC wrote in a letter issued to the plant Wednesday.
Regulators are now demanding the plant increase the height of its smokestacks from 45 feet to 90 feet by Dec. 11, its letter showed. The company will also have to test for air contaminants and an elemental analysis of the recycled asphalt materials it handles.
7 'Your eyes would tear because the smokestacks are so low. The smoke would stay at street level, and you'd go out of your house, and you'd breathe it in, and you'd just choke,' Mituzas said of the plant, which opened in 2011.
Brigitte Stelzer
7 Blissville, Queens resident Tom Mituzas told The Post he had to evacuate his 95-year-old aunt out of her home last summer due to the smelly emissions.
LinkedIn / Thomas J Mituzas
A rep for Green Asphalt told The Post it has been 'working diligently to address any odor complaints' and strives to be in 'good standing with the community as we have over the last 14 years, and we continue to engage with local stakeholders in Greenpoint and Long Island City to resolve this as soon as possible.'
Asphalt fumes can cause serious injury and permanent damage, including throat irritation, cough, fatigue and skin cancer, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
7 The Blissville Civic Association is calling on elected officials to help assuage the stinky fumes in Queens.
7 Billowing emissions from the Green Asphalt facility in Blissville, Queens.
X / Blissville Civic Association
7 Council member Julie Won said she is advocating for air quality testing near the plant site.
Stefan Jeremiah for New York Post
Green Asphalt in Long Island City once touted a $50,0000 sub-contract with the DOT and has helped pave major Big Apple roadways like the Whitestone Expressway. It recycles asphalt to be used in city sustainability projects, and brands itself as the first 100% recycled asphalt plant in Gotham.
The DOT stopped asphalt recycling operations with Green Asphalt 'around the time' the January 2024 violation was issued and has been waiting for a 'corrective plan before allowing operations to resume,' City Council member Julie Won's office told residents in an email shared with The Post.
Won told The Post she and state pols are now working to make sure the DEC regularly tests air quality near the plant site, as well as enforces state environmental regulations 'appropriately to improve the situation.'
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