U.S. EPA Region 5 issued an Administrative Consent Order (ACO) to Summit Processors (Summit) to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA alleged that Summit operated a secondary aluminum processing sweat furnace without either installing and properly operating an afterburner to control emissions of dioxin and furans (d/f) or conducting emissions testing to ensure that d/f emissions from the sweat furnace were below limits established in 40 CFR Part 63 Subpart RRR. The ACO confirms that the sweat furnace has been permanently shut down. No emissions testing of the sweat furnace was ever conducted, so emissions reductions of dioxin/furans cannot be quantified, although 1131 lbs/year of total particulate matter emissions are expected to be eliminated.
The ACO also resolved allegations that Summit accepted for recycling small appliances, such as refrigerators and room air conditioners, and motor vehicle air conditioners (MVACs) that contained or once contained ozone-depleting refrigerants, without either recovering the refrigerant from the appliances and MVACs or verifying that the refrigerant had been properly recovered prior to sale to Summit, in violation of regulations found at 40 CFR 82.156. EPA issued a Finding of Violation to Summit on January 17, 2013. The ACO requires Summit to either obtain refrigerant recovery equipment and to properly recover the refrigerant from appliances it accepts for scrap recycling at its East Alton, Illinois facility, or to verify