Air District and Alameda County District Attorney announce enforcement actions against Radius Recycling, formerly Schnitzer Steel

The lawsuit seeks penalties against Radius Recycling for its negligence related to a major fire that broke out on August 9, 2023, causing significant air quality impacts in West Oakland. Radius Recycling’s shredder was down at the time, but the company kept accepting more scrap until it ran out of space to store it. It therefore put the material in an area which is not equipped with water cannons to keep the material wetted and heat-detection cameras to spot dangerous temperature increases – crucial fire-prevention measures required by the facility’s air permit. Radius Recycling’s failure to keep the material adequately wet, and its failure to monitor the materials’ rising temperature, were substantial factors in creating the conditions that caused the fire.

The lawsuit asks the court to assess a monetary penalty against Radius Recycling, and it also seeks an injunction prohibiting Radius Recycling from storing any scrap material in locations that do not have adequate watering systems and heat-detection cameras.

The permit for the air pollution control equipment stems from earlier enforcement actions by the Air District and by the Alameda County District Attorney in partnership with the California Attorney General and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Those enforcement actions ended in 2020 and 2021 and required Radius Recycling to install two new thermal oxidizers and two new packed-bed acid gas scrubbers on the metal shredder to comply with Air District regulations. Radius Recycling installed mandatory air pollution abatement equipment in 2022. The equipment has been effective in reducing the shredder’s potential to emit smog-forming organic compound emissions by approximately 98 percent, and it has greatly reduced cancer and other public health risks associated with these emissions as well as other public health risks.

Radius Recycling had some violations on initial startup of the new pollution control equipment, for which the Air District fined the company $575,000 in 2024. Radius Recycling addressed those problems and is currently operating in compliance with applicable regulations. The operating permit issued today, July 17, 2025, requires continued operation of this equipment going forward, with revised permit conditions to ensure ongoing compliance.

Radius Recycling shreds and sorts scrap metal materials, such as end-of-life vehicles and appliances, which are then sold and transported from the facility for reuse in steel mills and foundries globally.

View press release.