SystemThinkers: EPA News Release (Region 7): Corporate Owner of Cargo Largo in Independence, Mo., to Pay $98,520 to Settle Alleged Violations of Hazardous Waste Laws

Friday, May 14, 2010

EPA News Release (Region 7): Corporate Owner of Cargo Largo in Independence, Mo., to Pay $98,520 to Settle Alleged Violations of Hazardous Waste Laws

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7

901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations

Corporate Owner of Cargo Largo in Independence, Mo., to Pay $98,520 to Settle Alleged Violations of Hazardous Waste Laws

Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., May 14, 2010) - Recovery Management Corporation, Inc., owner of the Cargo Largo retail store in Independence, Mo., has agreed to pay a $98,520 civil penalty to the United States to settle allegations related to the storage, treatment and shipment of hazardous wastes.

Recovery Management Corporation, whose warehouse is located at 1600 North 291 Highway, Independence, Mo., buys abandoned, unclaimed and/or damaged goods and merchandise from commercial shipping companies and resells them through its Cargo Largo retail outlet at 13900 E. 35^th Street, also in Independence, and through other means.

According to a consent agreement and final order filed in Kansas City, Kan., EPA Region 7 conducted an inspection of the company’s Independence warehouse in July and August 2008 to determine its compliance with the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). That inspection noted several alleged violations of RCRA at the warehouse location:

· Storage of waste pharmaceuticals, including hazardous wastes, without a proper permit.

· Unpermitted treatment of hazardous wastes, including allowing the evaporation of solvents from contaminated rags, and the crushing of mercury-containing lamps into a drum, which exposed employees to hazardous solvent fumes and mercury vapors.

· Shipment of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals to a medical waste disposal facility instead of a hazardous waste disposal facility.

· Shipment of hazardous waste solvent rags to a solid waste landfill instead of a hazardous waste disposal facility.

· Offering hazardous wastes for disposal without accompanying shipment manifests. Such manifests are required to help emergency responders know how to properly address accidents that may occur in transit.

The consent agreement requires Recovery Management Corporation to perform hazardous waste determinations on all of its solid waste streams. The company must also take steps to prevent its suppliers from sending hazardous wastes to the company’s facility, and develop procedures for identifying and immediately disposing of potentially hazardous materials that it inadvertently receives.

Additionally, Recovery Management Corporation must provide documentation to EPA Region 7 on a quarterly basis for one year that shows hazardous wastes are being shipped properly. The company also must document that it is no longer treating waste lamps and solvent rags.

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