A California bill that would classify auto shredder output as potentially hazardous waste subject to tighter oversight by state environmental regulators made its way through the legislature and to the governor’s desk for signing.
The California proposal is rooted in compromises set up decades ago, when the state first looked at shredder output, which is also called automobile shredder residue (ASR), and consists mostly of non-metallic materials produced by shredding auto bodies and appliances. Along with foam, fabric, plastics, rubber, tires, glass, wood and other debris, it contains small amounts of metallic material that cannot be economically separated.
Back then, regulators granted an exemption to shredder facilities, essentially deciding not to classify shredder output as hazardous waste. Today, about 700,000 tons of ASR is treated and disposed of in California landfills each year, mostly as alternative daily cover, according to state Senator Jerry Hill, who sponsored the proposal to tighten regulations.
Back in 2002, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) studied auto shredder output and found that both treated and untreated material exceeded state regulatory thresholds for lead, zinc and cadmium, according to Hill’s office. The legislator said a regulator advised treating shredder output as hazardous waste, but no action was taken at the time.
In the last several years, a string of fires at California shredder facilities has energized concerns about hazardous materials. This helped prompt the legislation that would encourage rescinding the decades-old exemption and have DTSC regulate shredded automobile and metal appliance output as hazardous waste. The costs of applying any additional regulation would be borne by a fee charged to shredder facilities.
Representatives of the automotive recycling industry urged California to consider other ASR-related rulings and market practices before finalizing new regulations. “ARA strongly supports the determination by the Environmental Protection Agency and other state regulatory bodies that shredder residue is a non-hazardous waste,” said Michael Wilson, chief executive office of the Automotive Recyclers Association, a national organization representing professional automotive recyclers and dismantlers.
“The move by California legislators to classify shredder output as potentially hazardous waste is a significant change and could have ripple effects throughout the recycling industry,” Wilson said. He said ARA supports research to develop processes to recycle and reuse shredder residue and supports efforts to continue to develop methods for separating the residue stream to make it a more suitable fuel.
One concern is what impact the California law, if enacted, could have on the regulatory climate in other states. David Wagger, director of environmental management for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) in Washington, D.C., said the California initiative could turn out to be significant, but the effects might not extend beyond the state’s borders. “I don’t see it immediately being regulated by other states,” Wagger said. “California tends to be at the forefront of regulatory efforts. This is a case in point.”
One factor is that definitions of what constitutes hazardous waste differ in California compared to federal definitions and those applying in other states. “It’s easier to become hazardous waste in California just because of the definition,” Wagger said.
Shredder output or other material that might be regulated as hazardous waste in California if the new proposal is enacted would not necessarily be categorized that way elsewhere because of their definitions. “I don’t think other states are likely to change their definition because of this,” Wagger said. “I don’t think the ingredients are there from a regulatory point of view.” He also said federal regulations don’t lend themselves to a similar ruling.
Should the California bill be enacted, it does not appear that it would immediately affect California shredder companies. Several California auto shredding operations were contacted for this article but none provided any response. The language of the bill requires the California DTSC to conduct studies over a period of years on how shredder residue can be treated to reduce public risks from the presence of toxic metals and other materials.
A central feature of the studies would be taking samples from material on the shredder facility sites on several different occasions over a period of time to determine how much and what kind of toxic materials shredder residue contains. At a later stage, the DTSC, or a contractor hired by the agency, would attempt to determine whether current methods of treating shredder residue are acceptably reducing any hazards.
Since the 1980s, shredder residue has been treated by applying chemicals that stabilizes the mix to reduce dispersion of potentially toxic metals and other materials, according to a report prepared for the California chapter of ISRI. After going through a magnet to recover additional metals for recycling, it is considered non-hazardous. The treated residue is rarely disposed of as waste because it is too valuable for use as alternative daily cover, the ISRI California report said.
When the analyses of residue content and treatment effectiveness are completed, it could turn out that shredder residue will not be regulated as hazardous waste in California. The bill’s sponsors clearly don’t think that will happen, but recyclers are hoping that a way through will emerge that won’t cost the industry too dearly.
The California ISRI chapter and shredders in the state are already meeting with regulators, even before knowing whether the bill will pass, to discuss how to study and, perhaps, more effectively treat potential hazards in shredder residue. Wilson said the British Environmental Agencies have confirmed that plastics from shredder residue can be recovered and used to generate energy. He said this indicates that almost all of the shredder residue can now be recycled or recovered.
Wilson also strongly encouraged California policymakers to include the role of the automakers in the shredder residue discussion and require that studies authorized under the legislation examine increased automobile manufacturer responsibility. “The role of appropriate environmental stewardship of ASR is one that needs to be shared by all in the automotive supply chain,” he said.
“We have to continue to look at this and work on the issue,” Wilson said. “The market is going in the right direction. Is it as quickly as the regulators would want it? The fact that the issue is out there in California means there’s more work to be done. Regulators are demanding action so we’d like to hit the right balance.”
Published in the October 2014 Edition of American Recycler News