Two thousand tons of old artificial turf is being stored at a site in Rush Township, and officials are concerned about pollution and fire safety.

A European company, Re-Match Turf Recycling, has proposed building a plant to recycle old turf fields in the Rush Township Industrial Park. In the meantime, contractors working for the company are storing large piles of the materials outside a building on the site, with no permits from the Department of Environmental Protection.

A recent rainstorm caused some of the rubber pellets and sand from the turf to run off onto the site. During a meeting of the township board of supervisors on Thursday, members said they disapprove of the way the materials are being stored.

“Hometown is not a storage area for materials like that,” said Shawn Gilbert, chairman of the Rush Township supervisors.

Re-Match, based in Denmark, markets its ability to recycle turf fields, saving money and keeping them out of landfills. The company has proposed building its first U.S. plant in Rush Township.

Joe Guzek, a Clarks Summit-based engineer who is representing Re-Match, said about 2,000 tons of old turf fields are being stored at the site. Before a rainstorm last week, all the material was being stored outside.

Guzek blamed communication issues between himself, a contractor working on site, and Re-Match officials in Denmark, for the materials being stored improperly.

“I apologize for believing the contractor had been given the right instructions and doing the proper work.

Guzek said that the Department of Environmental Protection has issued a notice of violation for the site. He now plans to have the contractor move the material inside a 150,000 square foot building.

Hometown Fire Co. Chief Barry Messerschmidt said that Guzek needs to work with his department to make plans in case a fire were to break out on the site.

“I seem to have the most at stake here if something happens,” Messerschmidt said.

Guzek said that he intends to move a total of 7,000 tons of old turf onto the site from a stockpile in Lebanon County, which he is under a court order from a judge to remove. But he said he won’t move any additional material until he receives a DEP permit to store the old turf at the Hometown site.