Three Camden, New Jersey residents filed a federal class action complaint on May 28 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey against EMR Advanced Recycling, LLC, alleging that the company's scrap metal recycling operations at 1400 South Front Street and 1500 South 6th Street have repeatedly released smoke, soot, fugitive dust, and noxious odors into surrounding residential properties. The complaint, filed as Case No. 1:26-cv-06041, asserts claims of private nuisance, public nuisance, negligence, and trespass on behalf of a proposed class described as thousands of residential owner-occupants and renters within a defined area of south Camden. EMR As of today, Advanced Recycling has not yet responded to the complaint in court filings.
More Than a Dozen Fires Since 2020 and a Pattern of NJDEP Violations
The complaint catalogs more than a dozen fires at the two Camden facilities dating to 2020, including a four-alarm fire on February 21, 2025 that sent black smoke visible for 15 miles over the city for several hours and forced more than 100 families to evacuate. Camden City Commissioners issued a voluntary shelter-in-place order that was not lifted until the following afternoon, and city officials stated publicly that the fire could never be allowed to happen again. EMR attributed that fire to a lithium-ion battery in the scrap stream. Another fire occurred at the facility on February 26, 2026, the complaint notes.
NJDEP issued multiple notices of violation to EMR between 2020 and 2021 covering unpermitted air contaminant sources, improper residue storage, an unpermitted solid waste facility, and inadequate fire suppression equipment. The penalties that followed were modest by comparison to the scale of disruption. A 2023 settlement over the January 2021 fire produced a $7,600 NJDEP penalty and an $89,750 fine from the county health department's hazmat division. After the February 2025 fire, EMR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the City requiring roughly $3 million in fire suppression upgrades, closure of the South 6th Street facility, and an initial $1 million community investment plus $450,000 in annual contributions. New Jersey filed its own civil lawsuit against EMR and affiliated entities in January 2026 on public nuisance grounds. The class action followed four months later.
Lithium-Ion Battery Contamination in Scrap Streams Is the Recurring Failure Point
The complaint identifies the scrap metal shredding process itself as a known source of hazardous air emissions. Shredding vehicles, appliances, and mixed metal scrap generates volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter, and hazardous air pollutants including lead, zinc, cadmium, and mercury as non-metal materials are vaporized by the heat of the shredding process. The EPA has documented auto shredders as a recognized emission source for this reason. For EHS teams at industrial facilities operating near or sourcing from scrap metal processors, the EMR complaint illustrates what happens when lithium-ion batteries and other reactive materials contaminate general scrap streams without adequate pre-screening. More of those batteries are entering the scrap stream every year as consumer electronics, power tools, and EVs reach end of life. The fire record at Camden reflects that reality in a particularly visible way.
