General Iron Industries is a scrap metal recycler and shredder located in Lincoln Park on the Northside of Chicago. This company claims that “We are a recycler, not a polluter.” However, this is not the case; Chicagoans can attest to this company’s harmful scrap metal recycling practices that cause dangerous air pollution.

General Iron’s shredding activities have produced fugitive dust, or dust pollution, that has covered local sidewalks and roads. Their other violations involve producing metal and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions that exceed state regulations. Businesses and residents in the area have reported that they need to frequently change their air filters due to these pollutants produced by General Iron.

Exposure to these pollutants can lead to negative health outcomes such as asthma and premature death due to heart disease, stroke, or lung cancer. The populations that suffer disproportionately from the negative health effects of air pollution in Chicago are the socioeconomically disadvantaged Black and Latinx populations. These people live in close proximity to manufacturing plants that introduce many toxic pollutants into the community.

General Iron has a history of producing excessive air emissions and improperly handling pollution control (based on EPA standards). This is concerning as General Iron plans to move to the Southeast side of Chicago, a region that includes neighborhoods such as Bridgeport, Bronzeville, Calumet City, among others. These communities already have a high concentration of existing industrial polluters.

The demographics of these neighborhoods are composed mainly of people of color, so General Iron needs to acknowledge the responsibility it has to the communities where they operate. This is an issue of environmental equity.

Please sign this petition to influence General Iron to re-evaluate and revise their facility procedures that pose dangers to public and environmental health!