The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) disclosed a settlement that requires Parkway Iron and Metal Co. to pay $145,000 and spend approximately $260,000 to install pollution controls for alleged Clean Air Act violations at its scrap metal recycling business in Clifton, New Jersey.
The company was fined for improperly shredding dozens of refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners without first removing refrigerants, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs). Appliances containing CFCs and HFCs can be recycled as long as the refrigerants are properly removed first.
HFCs are potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and impact people’s health in a number of ways, including by damaging air quality.
The EPA requested information from Parkway to ensure compliance with ozone-depletion regulations and inspected the company on multiple occasions. These inspections revealed violations of Clean Air Act regulations, resulting in this settlement.
In addition to paying the penalty, Parkway has agreed to comply with the Clean Air Act. Before recycling appliances, Parkway will remove all refrigerants at no cost to the appliance seller. Parkway will properly dispose of the recovered refrigerants, ensuring that CFCs and HFCs are not released to the atmosphere.
As a final part of the settlement, Parkway will install a baghouse on its metal-sorting conveyor belts. This pollution control device will make the facility even cleaner than required by law by reducing the quantity of fine particles and metals released into the air during the shredding and metal sorting process. The EPA estimates that this new equipment will cost about $260,000.
The proposed settlement was lodged with the United States District Court for the State of New Jersey.
Published in the July 2016 Edition of American Recycler News
