The CEO of EMR Advanced Recycling is pushing back against efforts to close its Camden, New Jersey, facility after a fire there last week intensified calls from officials to shut it down. On June 2, EMR’s CEO Joe Balzano sent a letter to Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen to address some of the con cerns that were expressed by city officials following the facility’s most recent blaze on Friday, May 29. “We recognize that fire incidents at industrial facilities understandably draw public scrutiny and concern. We take that concern seriously,” Balzano wrote. Last week’s incident sparked strong opinions from officials who called on the facility to shut down, saying in part that “enough is enough” after yet another fire at the location — one of many in recent years. “After numerous fires, numerous attempts to help EMR prevent numerous fires, here we are again. This will no longer be tolerated by me, by colleagues, by elected officials, and more importantly, by our residents,” the mayor said last week. According to state officials, at least 12 major fires have occurred in scrap metal piles at EMR facilities in Camden’s Waterfront South neighborhood in the past five years. One of the biggest fires started at the EMR facility on the 1400 block of South Front Street back on Feb. 21, 2025. The fire – which started from a two-story pile of scrap material that was supposed to be torn apart into smaller pieces – burned for over 12 hours and forced residents to evacuate and stay out of the area for weeks. In January, the state of New Jersey filed a lawsuit against EMR which claimed that the fires “filled nearby streets with smoke and air pollution, creating an ongoing public nuisance that has severely harmed the health and well-being of Camden’s residents.” The most recent fire, which produced heavy smoke that could be seen and smelled across the city, spread rapidly throughout the facility despite the recent installation of a fire suppression system. “We thought that this fire suppression system would be a meaningful response to any small fires that would occur. Well, today we got our answer. No, it doesn’t work,” Camden Commissioner Jeffrey Nash said in a news conference on May 30. “Sometimes you try and you fail, and that’s what happened here.” Late Friday afternoon, a spokesperson from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) released a statement on the fire. “The latest fire only further confirms why EMR’s Camden facilities should not continue operating without the greater accountability and oversight needed to keep the community safe,” the spokesperson wrote. “Unfortunately, the NJDEP does not have comprehensive legislative authority to regulate scrap metal facilities. However, the department is currently doing everything we can to seek relief for communities. EMR’s announcement that it is pausing shredding operations at its facility is a necessary step in light of the hazards the facility poses, and we will continue our work in court to stop these dangerous fires once and for all.” In his letter to the mayor, Balzano acknowledged the community’s concerns, but also noted that the installation of the fire suppression system was never a guarantee that incidents like this wouldn’t happen. He also noted that the company has implemented “extensive operational changes” and committed “substantial” funding to community initiatives. EMR’s CEO also pointed out the facility’s role in employing hundreds of workers, many of whom were previously incarcerated. As of June 2, EMR employed 535 New Jersey residents, of those, 191 workers live in Camden. “EMR is one of Camden’s largest private employers and one of the region’s most significant providers of second-change employment opportunities.” To end the letter, Balzano reiterated his desire to collaborate with the city to find viable solutions and said he hopes the city will honor their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) implemented in 2025. Balzano added that his “strong preference” is to address the concerns without resorting to legal action. Read the full letter addressed to the mayor below: EMR workers were expected to gather at Camden City Hall at noon to protest the facility’s cease of operations. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less