Florida DEP Arrests Business Owner for Illegal Biomedical Waste Disposal

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) arrested the owner of a hazardous waste disposal business for alleged illegal disposal of biomedical waste.

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On August 1, DEP’s Southwest District Environmental Crimes Unit charged the business owner with:

• 11 felony counts of littering for commercial purposes and economic gain;
• 11 misdemeanor counts of nuisance injurious to health;
• 11 misdemeanor counts of storage of biomedical waste at a non-permitted location; and
• One felony count of violation of probation.

Three days prior, DEP’s Office of Emergency Response followed a complaint and obtained an Inspection Warrant for the Specialty Trailer Leasing storage location in Plant City.

State investigators found eight 53-foot trailers and three cargo shipping containers containing more than 50,000 pounds of untreated biomedical waste at the Plant City location.

DEP must now hire a licensed contractor to remove the waste and take it to an approved disposal facility.

This is not the first time the Tampa business owner has come under scrutiny. Last November, his waste disposal company was fined over $37,000 for keeping 14-month-old unlabeled and untreated biomedical waste in shipping trailers.
 

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Tags: biomedical, enforcement, florida, hazardous waste, medical, medical hazardous waste, medical waste, RCRA, waste disposal