The owner of a Beltsville recycling company has admitted to mishandling and not properly disposing of mercury, a toxic substance, at his business.
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Glen W. Smith pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to 10 counts of failing to dispose of a hazardous substance. The investigation into the 50-year-old Calvert County resident began when the Maryland Department of the Environment inspected his warehouse facility in May 2009 and found a number of boxes being used for the disposal of mercury, according to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office.
Investigators found that none of the employees at USA Lights, which recycles fluorescent light bulbs, had training in how to handle mercury and its by-products. Mercury can cause skin irritation, tremors, neuromuscular damage and memory loss if inhaled as a vapor.
Another search in February 2010 found improperly stored mercury by-products and a layer of white dust, believed to be crushed mercury from the recycling process, authorities said.
Smith admitted that he abandoned the facility in April 2010 without cleaning any materials. Authorities found hazardous levels of mercury throughout the warehouse, the Attorney General’s Office said.
