ISRI opens SREA program to nonmembers

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, has announced that it has opened its Superfund Recycling Equity Act (SREA) Reasonable Care Compliance Program to nonmembers. The SREA Reasonable Care Compliance Program offers detailed reports on consuming facilities’ environmental compliance records, which can assist recyclers with the defense of a Superfund liability claim as a way of showing “reasonable care,” the association says in a news release.

“Superfund liability can be expensive for recyclers if they have not done their due diligence. The cost could potentially put companies out of business,” says Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “The SREA Reasonable Care Compliance Program provides recyclers with publicly available compliance records on consuming facilities to aid with SREA’s due diligence requirements. ISRI decided to make the compliance program more widely available so the entire industry can access this comprehensive information, which is so critical to the SREA liability defense.”

Federal Superfund law can hold scrap processors and brokers liable for cleanup costs of consuming facilities’ properties if the owners are bankrupt or otherwise unable to pay for cleanup costs. Under SREA, recyclers can employ a valid defense to a claim for Superfund liability if they shipped recyclable materials and conducted “reasonable care” to ensure they did not ship to facilities not in compliance with environmental laws.

What recyclers should know about the ISRI SREA Reasonable Care Program:

• reports should be ordered annually for every consuming facility to which recyclable materials are being sent
• SREA program offers compliance reports on consuming facilities, which include publicly available, comprehensive environmental compliance information compiled from more than 1,200 federal, state and local databases; FOIA requests; facility questionnaires; and supporting backup data
• reports provide publicly available data with no recommended actions from ISRI
• ISRI offers each report for $40 for members and $400 for nonmembers

In addition, to making the program available to nonmembers, ISRI also allows orders to be placed year-round. Previously, there was an open season for ordering in spring, with full reports being delivered in fall.