EPA Region 5 issued an Administrative Penalty Order (APO) to Mill Valley Recycling (Mill Valley) to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). On March 31, 2011, EPA issued to Mill Valley a Finding of Violation (FOV) pertaining to its scrap metal recycling facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The FOV alleged that mill Valley did not consistently secure completed, signed and dated supplier verification statements pertaining to the recovery of refrigerants.
For purposes of recycling Mill Valley accepted small appliances such as refrigerators and room air conditioners that contained or once contained ozone-depleting refrigerants. Since Mill Valley was not recovering the refrigerant from the appliances, it would be required to verify that the refrigerant had been properly recovered prior to sale to Mill Valley, as required at 40 C.F.R. Section 82.156. EPA determined that Mill Valley had recently hired a technician with refrigerant recovery equipment and to periodically recover the refrigerant from set-aside appliances it accepts for scrap recycling at its facility. Mill Valley's refrigerant recovery program is estimated to recover approximately 150 lbs of ozone-depleting refrigerants per year. Since the refrigerants used in small appliances and motor vehicles also are potent global-warming gases, these resolutions will, in addition to protecting the ozone layer, have the added benefit of reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases equivalent to removing approximately 60