ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20150
No(s). 08-C-16 (E.D. Wis. Jul 3, 2012) (Griesbach)

A district court held that a paper company that sold "broke," a byproduct of its manufacturing process, to paper recyclers was not an arranger under CERCLA for PCB contamination in a river. The company lacked knowledge that broke could be hazardous; it invested money and labor in treating, sorting, and selling its broke; it always sold the broke rather than sending it to a landfill or otherwise disposing of it; it sold the broke through brokers in a well-established secondary market; and it treated the broke, for accounting and other purposes, as an asset that was integral to its business model. The broke, therefore, had far more characteristics of a useful product than of a waste product. At best, the company was indifferent about what might happen to the broke waste products after the broke was recycled.