CLAREMONT — The Department of Environmental Services has until May 22 to make a decision on whether to grant a permit modification that would allow a recycling business on Industrial Boulevard to accept construction and demolition material.

DES officials sought the extension of the deadline, which was originally at the end of April, from Recycling Services several days after a public hearing in early March in Claremont during which hundreds of residents expressed opposition to the modification. The company agreed to the extension request.

Acuity Management of Methuen, Mass., which owns Recycling Services, proposes to truck tons of construction and demolition debris to its Industrial Boulevard site where it said the material would be scavenged for recyclables and the remainder loaded onto rail cars and sent to a landfill in Ohio.

Opponents say the volume of material proposed would tax local infrastructure and bring noise, air and groundwater pollution.

If DES grants the modification, Recycling Services would still need approval from local zoning and planning boards.