Bill > A2406

Introduced Session

This bill would replace the term "scrap processing facility" with "scrap metal facility" under applicable State laws and would require scrap metal facilities to register with Department of Environmental Protection (department) and comply with certain requirements established under the bill. The bill would amend existing law to remove the exemption to regulation of scrap processing facilities as recycling centers. As defined in the bill, "scrap metal facility" means any commercial industrial facility that receives, stores, transfers, or processes scrap metal, including those that alter or reduce the volume or physical characteristics of scrap metal by mechanical methods, including but not limited to baling, cutting, torching, crushing, or shredding, for purposes of recycling, resale, or reuse, including for remelting, refining, smelting, or remanufacturing into raw materials or products, and includes what is commonly known as a scrapyard or junkyard. The bill would require, no later than one year after the bill's effective date, the owner or operator of each scrap metal facility in the State to register with the department and pay a registration fee of $700 to the department. The registration would be required to be renewed annually unless an extension is granted by the department. The department would be required to use the information received through the registrations to establish appropriate regulatory, operational, and management requirements for scrap metal facilities and to determine the appropriate class of recycling center permit, license, or approval that would be required for scrap metal facility types, except that any scrap metal facility that operates a shredder would require an individual recycling center permit of the class determined by the department. In addition, the bill would establish minimum operational requirements for scrap metal facilities that operate shredders, in addition to all other requirements pertaining to recycling centers. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the prevention of the accumulation of shredder residue or scrap metal that would result in a risk of fire, the placement of shredder residue on impervious surfaces to control stormwater discharges, the enclosure of any shredder residue to prevent dust migration, and the implementation of fire suppression systems and associated training programs and inspection requirements. No later than 18 months after the bill's effective date, the department would be required to establish a program to regulate each scrap metal facility in the State as a recycling center, in compliance with the bill's provisions. The bill would direct the department, subject to the availability of sufficient funds appropriated by the Legislature. to hire new staff to implement the bill's provisions and provide that the department would be required to include in its annual budget request to the Governor for funding to implement the bill's provisions. The bill would provide that a violation of the bill's provisions would be considered a violation of the "Solid Waste Management Act," P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-1 et seq.), provide that the department would have the right to enter and inspect the premises of a scrap metal facility to determine compliance, and establish that an person who knowingly makes any false or misleading statement to the department on any registration or other application, record, or other document required to be filed or maintained by this bill would be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree and be subject to a civil administrative penalty of up to $10,000.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Bill Moen (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee (on 01/13/2026)

Official Document