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A Greater Des Moines company that won kudos for its efforts to clean up construction sites should lose its permit to recycle the debris it collected, an administrative law judge has ruled.

Phoenix Recycling Inc. has violated Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulations about the storage of the waste, Judge Heather Palmer of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals ruled last month in upholding a $10,000 fine against Phoenix and revocation of its permit to process the debris.

According to the ruling, the DNR found waste material outside Phoenix storage and processing buildings at 4764 N.E. 22nd St. every year from 2004 through 2009, with the exception of one spot inspection.

Under the conditions of Phoenix’s permit, it could not store the material outside.

Phoenix has attempted to operate a successful construction and demolition debris recycling business since 2004, when it sought to compete against another company that has since gone out of business.

Metro Waste Authority initially attempted such an enterprise, as did a Regency-related company. The Regency company ran afoul of DNR regulations and conditions established by Metro Waste for accepting the debris. Operating as Environmental Reclamation & Recycling, that company closed in the wake of Regency’s collapse, leaving behind stockpiles of material that were eventually cleared from a site in Bondurant. The DNR is attempting to have additional material removed from the company’s former processing center on Scott Avenue.

That closing has left Phoenix as the only construction and demolition debris recycler operating in Greater Des Moines.

Phoenix has attempted to dispose of some of the material at the Metro Waste landfill in eastern Polk County. Metro Waste had agreed to accept material called alternative daily cover for free, provided it met certain conditions. The agency recently won a 6-year-old court case brought by Phoenix over its refusal to accept the material for free.

In addition, Phoenix and the DNR have been at the center of a controversy in Madison County, where the company attempted to dispose of the debris and found itself accused in a lawsuit of fouling the environment.

Phoenix also converts the debris to briquettes that can be used for fuel.

The DNR initially cited Phoenix in 2007 for stockpiling material outdoors, in violation of its permit issued the same year to operate the processing center.

What followed was a series of consent agreements in which the company said it would remove the material by certain dates. Follow-up inspections by the DNR found that the company had failed to comply with the agreements. At one time, a DNR inspector noted that the piles of debris were growing larger.

The DNR sought to revoke Phoenix’s permit in 2008; however, the company has been able to appeal the ruling and forestall action by entering into additional consent agreements to dispose of material stored outside its processing center.

At the time, Madison County officials had ordered Phoenix trucks off their roads in a dispute over whether material the company was using to fill a farmer’s ditch contained hazardous substances. A court case over that controversy is still pending.

The DNR also has worked with Phoenix to find additional uses for the construction debris, primarily as a fuel source.

Phoenix also has accused Metro Waste of interfering with a contract it had to dispose of processed material at a landfill in Newton.

Earlier this year, the Technology Association of Iowa recognized Phoenix as the “green company of the year” during its Prometheus Awards ceremony. The awards are given to companies that showcase advancements in various technologies.

Phoenix can appeal the administrative law judge’s ruling to the director of the DNR as well as to state courts.