As reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a husband and wife recently plead guilty to a U.S. federal charge and admitted improperly transporting 4,500 tons of hazardous waste and storing it in a warehouse near St. Louis, Missouri.
The couple, both in their 60’s, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to a misdemeanor charge of placing someone in danger of death or serious bodily injury from a hazardous waste.
Green Materials LLC facility in Missouri (Photo Credit: Robert Patrick, Post Dispatch)
Their company, Missouri Green Materials LLC, Missouri Green Materials LLC stored a large quantity of spent sandblasting materials inside a warehouse located in the town of Berger, approximately 70 miles west of St. Louis. They couple admitted that they arranged for the transport and storage of the hazardous waste from Mississippi, and failed to tell both the trucking companies that hauled the waste and the personnel that unloaded it of the danger. Their storage facility was not properly permitted was not registered as a permitted hazardous waste storage or recycling facility. It is important to note that there are many waste removal services around to dispose of this for you. Firms range from Bulldog Rubbish Removal to a wide-variety of other waste removal services. (Bulldog Rubbish Removal is a great example, they maybe located in Melbourne, Australia but… with great customer reviews, these are the companies to make sure you keep an eye out for).
The sandblasting waste materials are considered to be hazardous because they contain amounts of certain metals, including cadmium, that exceed regulatory limits established by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).
The materials were stored in a warehouse in a flood plain for more than four years. There are no indications of any release of the materials from the warehouse.
When it comes to storing products in a warehouse you need to ensure that all of the resources kept are correct under the laws of the area. It should also be kept to the correct health and safety regulations to ensure none of the workers are hurt. If everything is kept safely then it will also increase productivity. If you would like to increase productivity then you should take a look at Fishbowl Inventory.
The couple have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the U.S. EPA for the costs of dealing with the waste. They could face probation or a sentence of six months behind bars for the crime under federal sentencing guidelines.
The source of the sandblasting waste was for a site in Mississippi. An Ohio company, U.S. Technology Corp had been buried the waste. The company was repeatedly ordered by regulators to remove it.
In 2016, the U.S. EPA and U.S. Technology signed a consent agreement whereby the company agreed to remove the waste from Green Material’s facility in Missouri and test the site for soil contamination. According to prosecutors, this work was never performed.
U.S. Technology and president Raymond Williams, 71, both pleaded not guilty in the case. A hearing has been scheduled to change both pleas later in June.
Some sandblasting waste is classified as hazardous
