Earlier this year, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General sued EMR over what it said were 14 fires associated with EMR’s operations in and near Camden between February 2020 and March 2026, including a fire on an EMR-owned barge carrying scrap metal in the Delaware Bay.
Following the company’s most recent fire last month, city, county and state elected officials called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and “every other regulatory agency” to shut down the company’s operations in the Waterfront South neighborhood. Camden City Councilmember Arthur Barclay said during a community meeting in the neighborhood last week that the city planned to revoke a business license held by EMR.
EMR, a multinational scrap metal recycling company with its U.S. headquarters in Camden, operates five sites in the city that purchase, dismantle, shred and process old cars, appliances, construction debris and other sources of scrap metal.
Under Camden city code, junkyard licenses shall not be renewed if “the storage of junk and/or inoperable motor vehicles at the proposed lands and premises of the applicant would constitute a fire or safety hazard,” or if the applicant has been a “habitual violator” of the ordinance.
Operations at the shredder have been paused since the May 29 fire, which prompted the city of Camden to advise residents to remain indoors for several hours to avoid the smoke. EMR voluntarily paused receiving and shredding scrap at the site following the fire, while it engaged a third-party contractor to evaluate the cause of the fire, the company’s operational protocols and its fire suppression system, according to a statement from the company on May 29.
In a separate letter to the company dated June 5 and obtained by WHYY News, Camacho outlined “permissible activities” while the site’s junkyard license is suspended. These include removing previously processed recycled material from the site and other properties in Camden, provided that the removal of the material is “safe, expeditious, and direct,” and that the material is loaded directly onto vessels or barges for transport out of Camden. The company may also clean or perform maintenance on equipment not operating due to the suspension.
The license suspension prevents the company from collecting or taking in new material, sorting or preparing new material, and shredding or separating any material, according to the letter.
Standing outside of the shredder site Friday, Kareem Anderson, senior operational manager at EMR’s My Auto Store in Camden and organizer of an EMR employee rally outside Camden City Hall last week opposing elected officials’ calls to close the site, said he felt the city was moving too quickly. Anderson said the real issue is flammable lithium-ion batteries improperly delivered to EMR facilities in a range of post-consumer goods.
“I feel like we are the victims,” Anderson said. “I feel like we are being attacked.”
In a statement after the fire in late May, EMR said the company believed the fire originated from a lithium battery.
EMR USA CEO Joe Balzano told WHYY News last Friday that he hoped to sit down with city officials and resolve the issue.
“We value our place in the city of Camden and want to work for resolution, as opposed to in opposition of each other,” Balzano said.
EMR can appeal its junkyard license suspension within 15 days, according to the city’s notice.