The legal settlements were the latest in the Closed Loop Refining and Recovery CRT abandonment case in Phoenix. | Justin Pinkney/Shutterstock
Three e-scrap companies will pay a combined $2.2 million to help fund the cleanup of millions of pounds of CRT materials abandoned by Closed Loop Refining and Recovery in Phoenix.
The three companies were sued by owners of industrial properties in Phoenix, where Closed Loop took in – and later abandoned – over 100 million pounds of CRT materials.
Among the defendants to recently reach settlements was Monitor and CRT Recyclers of California, a Riverside, Calif.-based e-scrap company that shipped to the sites 25.6 million pounds of CRT materials that were later abandoned. That weight far exceeded the weight sent by any other defendants remaining in the case.
On Nov. 1, attorneys for the parties submitted their settlement documents to the judge, who approved them the next day. The agreements obligate Monitor and CRT Recyclers of California to pay $1.94 million, GEEP Canada/GEEP USA to pay $240,000 for shipping 4.14 million pounds, and Phoenix-based Global Electronic Recycling (GER) to pay $25,000 for sending just over 15,000 pounds.
According to the documents, Monitor and CRT Recyclers of California will split its sum into five equal payments of over $387,000, sending in payments once a year.
The weight shipped by Monitor and CRT Recyclers of California was second only to that of IMS Recycling, which sent 72.49 million pounds. Earlier this year, IMS agreed to pay $5 million to be dropped from the case.
The owners of the Phoenix warehouses first filed their lawsuit against 49 defendants in October 2022. The case is in U.S. District Court in Arizona.
So far, 10 defendants have reached settlements and paid a combined $10.27 million. On a per-pound basis, the funds they’ve paid have varied – with some of the smaller shippers paying much higher rates – but most settlements have come out to 7 cents or 8 cents per pound. The material has been going to landfills.
Another 39 defendants remain in the case. The warehouse owners allege they shipped a combined 44.85 million pounds.
The plaintiffs estimate the Phoenix cleanup project costs will total $15 million.
The Arizona case mirrors a similar Closed Loop legal battle that drug on for years in Columbus, Ohio. Defendants in that federal court case ultimately agreed to pay out over $16 million in settlements to help fund the warehouses cleanups, the last of which was completed in August 2022.