Armourdale Residents Demand Accountability and Transparency, Leading Reworld to Withdraw Application for MPF
Armourdale, Kansas — After months of Armourdale community action, led by RiSE for
Environmental Justice (RiSE4EJ), Reworld (formerly Covanta) withdrew its permit application to
build a chemical waste processing facility in Armourdale, Kansas. Among other concerns,
residents flagged significant deficiencies in the permit filing and raised objections to unpermitted
construction. The permit withdrawal comes after residents demanded transparency and
accurate information about many key threats to public health, including increased truck traffic,
wastewater transport and discharge, and flooding–none of which were addressed in the permit
application.
On July 10, 2025, Reworld submitted a Special Use Permit (SUP) application to construct a
Materials Processing Facility (MPF) in Armourdale, Kansas, and began construction at the site
before any such permit was granted. Led by RiSE4EJ, a local community-based, environmental
justice organization, and with support from the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
(GAIA), the Armourdale community spent the past four months organizing community
residents–including numerous meetings and trainings, informational sessions, and uplifting
community expertise. They have also been working to ensure transparency and to provide
information to the boards of commissioners during their evaluation of Reworld’s permit
application. This effort turned out community members who provided powerful testimony–some
for the first time–at every City Planning Commission permit hearing.
“This win belongs to the people: to every neighbor who showed up, spoke up, translated, shared
flyers, gathered signatures, counted trucks, made calls, and refused to be silenced,” said Beto
Lugo Martinez, Executive Director of RiSE4EJ. “It’s proof that grassroots power works and
that when communities come together, we can protect our health, our air, and our future.”
“When we work together to uplift and center the voices of the most impacted communities, we
wield a powerful tool against the corporations trying to build their dirty, toxic infrastructure near
our homes,” said Jessica Roff, Plastics & Petrochemicals Program Manager, US/Canada at
GAIA. “Industry already overburdens specific communities–mostly Black, Brown, Indigenous,
and lower wealth communities–so it is critical that we hold them accountable for truth and
transparency, and when they don’t deliver, they don’t get to operate.”
City Planning commissioners recognized the potential threats posed by the MPF and required
Reworld to provide studies on the facility’s public health and environmental impacts, as well as
to hold numerous meetings to engage and hear from community members. After months of
delays and failing to comply with these requirements, Reworld withdrew its SUP application from
the Planning and Zoning board.
RiSE4EJ, GAIA, and the Armourdale community will work to ensure that Reworld does not
move its toxic proposal to another community down the road.
STOP the Covanta Reworld Chemical Recycling Facility in Armourdale | ALTO a Covanta Reworld Instalacion de Reciclaje Quimico en Armourdale
SP2025-043
We, the undersigned, oppose ReWorld's proposal to build a Chemical Recycling Materials Processing Facility at 808 S 14th St, Kansas City, KS 66105, located in a floodplain near homes, schools, and other industries. This facility would process chemicals, industrial sludge, soiled absorbents, and plastics into fuel to be burned elsewhere — posing serious risks to our community’s health, air, and water.