Camden has sued scrap metal recycler EMR, accusing the company of falling far short on donations it promised to a community benefits fund set up after a series of fires tore through the city's Waterfront South neighborhood. The city says EMR has deposited just over $783,000 into the fund since signing a memorandum of understanding in August 2025 — a fraction of what officials say the company owes.
The agreement, first reported by WHYY, required EMR to pay an initial $1 million into a community benefits fund and then $450,000 annually for five years. The fund, administered by the Community Foundation of South Jersey, is meant to support Camden nonprofits working on community improvements, medical care, environmental projects, education and science initiatives. According to the city's court filing, the fund currently holds a balance close to $2.3 million.
William M. Tambussi, a lawyer representing the city of Camden, alleges that EMR is trying to repurpose money it donated under a separate 2023 arrangement to cover its obligations under the 2025 agreement. Tambussi said that argument does not pass scrutiny. Camden's complaint, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, accuses EMR of acting in bad faith and materially breaching the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The city says it sent EMR a letter in July stating officials believed the company had violated the agreement.
EMR Pushes Back on the City's Accounting
EMR has rejected Camden's characterization of its donation conduct. In its own July letter, the company's lawyers said EMR fully satisfied its donation obligations under the agreement. Joe Balzano, CEO of EMR USA, said city officials knew all along that EMR planned to use an existing fund to finance the grants required under the memorandum of understanding.
Balzano said he found the dispute over donation semantics offensive while people in the neighborhood have actual needs. He said $2.3 million was ready for distribution and that his goal was to use the fund to benefit community members. EMR had established the EMR Camden Community Investment Fund back in October 2023, starting it with a donation of over $524,000 and following up with monthly donations ranging between $30,000 and $95,000. That 2023 fund saw no disbursements before the 2025 agreement was signed, and it remains controlled by the Community Foundation of South Jersey. Camden's lawsuit argues that fund cannot retroactively satisfy EMR's obligations under the 2025 deal.
Kristin Schrum, who lives blocks away from EMR's metal shredder in Camden, said EMR should donate the full amount specified in the agreement without counting earlier donations toward it. WHYY reported that the $310,000 purchase of a new Camden fire truck was a disbursement from EMR's community investment fund. The city's filing says EMR has distributed no community grant money since signing the August 2025 memorandum of understanding.
A Grant Process Stalled by More Fires
The fund's grantmaking committee, which includes representatives from Camden, EMR and Camden residents, met twice in February 2026 and selected the Camden Community Partnership to develop a community survey. But the committee postponed its planned June 2026 discussion of that survey after a two-alarm fire broke out at EMR's shredder site on May 29, requiring a response from all nine Camden fire companies, according to WHYY. County inspectors reportedly detected elevated levels of fine particulate matter near homes during that fire. In its July letter, EMR said it wanted to meet as soon as possible so fund distributions could proceed under the agreement.
That May fire prompted Camden to suspend EMR's junkyard license, but the company sued the city, and a judge allowed the facility to restart operations in July 2026 after EMR agreed to fire-safety precautions. Camden then withdrew the suspension. It was the latest flashpoint in a run of trouble at EMR's Camden operations, which the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General says have been the site of 14 fires since 2020.
State Lawsuit and a History of Violations
The donation dispute unfolds alongside a separate, larger legal fight: in January 2026, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and the state Department of Environmental Protection filed a public nuisance lawsuit against EMR entities in Camden County Superior Court, alleging the company created a public nuisance by failing to prevent hazardous fires that filled nearby streets with toxic smoke. That suit followed a four-alarm fire at EMR's Camden facility in February 2025 that burned for more than six hours and forced roughly 100 residents to evacuate, a blaze CBS News reported was believed to have been ignited by an improperly disposed lithium-ion battery in the scrap stream. That crisis is what pushed Camden officials to press EMR into the August 2025 memorandum of understanding, which carried a total estimated value of $6.7 million covering fire equipment reimbursement, fire suppression upgrades and the community fund payments, per SteelOrbis.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection records show EMR facilities in Camden had already been cited for multiple environmental violations before the recent major fires, including a $9,500 fine in 2021 — later settled for $7,600 — for unpermitted equipment and air pollution, according to NJ.com. EMR operates facilities in Camden and employs 535 workers, including 191 Camden residents; the company has more than 50 U.S. sites.
Environmental Justice Concerns in Waterfront South
The fights over fires and funding are unfolding in Waterfront South, a neighborhood designated as overburdened under New Jersey's 2020 Environmental Justice Law. More than half of its residents identify as Black, roughly one-third as Hispanic or Latino, and nearly one-third live below the federal poverty line. The neighborhood also hosts a county sewage treatment plant and a municipal waste combustor alongside EMR's operations.
State legislation has been proposed to address a regulatory gap around scrap-metal facilities. For residents like Schrum living near the shredder, the outcome of both the donation dispute and the broader legislative push carries direct consequences for a community already contending with layers of industrial pollution.
