A metal recycling plant in Camden, New Jersey, has paused operations after experiencing a significant fire last week, and local officials are calling for the facility to close.
Early on May 29 a two-alarm fire was reported at the EMR metal recycling plant in the city’s Waterfront South section. The plant had a four-alarm blaze in February 2025 and the latest incident occurs just days after a new fire suppression system was reportedly installed. EMR has experienced at least a dozen major fires in Camden since 2020, according to a lawsuit filed by the state Department of Environmental Protection in January and amended in March with additional incidents.
EMR did not respond to a request for comment, but the company told the Courier Post it had paused operations and will enlist an independent company to investigate the fire and evaluate safety protocols.
But local officials aren’t satisfied.
“Today, we are calling for EMR to be shut down by the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Camden County Health Department, and every other governmental regulatory agency with any jurisdiction over EMR’s facility in the City of Camden,” a group of local officials said in a statement.
“This morning, we awoke to a call that has come way too often for the residents of our community — another fire at the EMR scrap facility,” the statement continued. “We will not stand idly by while residents are exposed to fires on a regular basis and have to bear the burdens of an operation that clearly cannot function in a safe manner.“
The officials added that the city had worked with EMR in the past to improve the facility.
EMR is also under pressure in Florida, where the fourth fire in two years hit a company facility in Pensacola on May 26. That city also is looking into possible legal action.
EMR has cited improperly disposed batteries as a leading cause of fires at its facilities, the Courier Post reported. The recycler said it is asking for better state and federal standards on disposal.
But the local Camden officials said, “Enough is enough, we’ve heard the same stories before about lithium-ion batteries and their dangers, but that story line is old and irrelevant at this point.”
The US and Canada saw 448 fires in 2025 at recycling facilities, causing more than $2.5 billion in damage, said analyst Ryan Fogelman in his latest annual report.
“The reality is that the risks are increasing,” Fogelman said.
EMR’s US operations are headquartered in Camden and the global company is based in the UK. In the US the company has 54 sites, 3 shredders and more than 1,800 employees, according to its website.
