ISRI spots uptick in refrigerant recovery enforcement

The Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has sent out an alert saying member companies in the Midwest have witnessed United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “enforcement activity increase” regarding regulations governing refrigerant recovery from appliances.

ISRI, which refers to those regulations as “long-standing,” says scrap recyclers have been receiving agency visits in EPA Region 5, which is based in Chicago and covers the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. “The most recent activity has taken place in Ohio,” states ISRI.

“Based on limited information, enforcement follow-up has included penalties in the neighborhood of $500,000,” states ISRI. “We are sending this alert out to members because it is possible that enforcement may spread beyond Region 5, and therefore we want to help members to be prepared,” adds the association.

ISRI says it has compliance information available. “All members should review ISRI’s compliance guidelines against their current appliance recycling procedures and make any necessary changes to ensure compliance with the regulations,” the group comments.

The pertinent regulations apply to air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, chillers and motor vehicle air conditioners (including units in off-road vehicles), says ISRI.

When handling such devices, recyclers are supposed to properly recover any remaining refrigerant or verify with a signed statement or a contract that refrigerant was properly recovered prior to delivery, adds ISRI. “A recycler may use a contract for regular suppliers or collect a statement from suppliers for each delivery, [and] statements are required for occasional suppliers (e.g., peddlers),” says the association.

ISRI further states, “During the recent enforcement activities, recyclers cooperated with EPA and even received compliments from EPA for their cooperation. Given this cooperation, the lag time between EPA’s visits and notices of violation with extremely large penalties, and lack of known similar prior enforcement cases with such large penalties, these extremely large penalties are surprising.”

The association adds, “It seems virtually certain that EPA is interpreting violations of [rule] 40 CFR §82.155 with major-major gravity rankings. This seems to be new. ISRI has reached out to the office of the EPA Administrator and to key congressional offices to raise our concerns over the approach being taken by EPA.”