Scotts Manufacturing to pay penalty

KANSAS CITY – The Scotts Manufacturing Co., of Marysville, Ohio, has agreed to pay a $148,388 civil penalty to the United States to settle a series of alleged violations of hazardous waste laws at its pesticide blending and packaging facility in Fort Madison, Iowa.

Scotts employs approximately 200 full-time and 200 part-time workers at the Fort Madison facility, which blends and packages various lawn and garden consumer pesticide products. The facility generates a variety of wastes, including wastewater containing pesticide wastes, rags and solids contaminated with pesticides, as well as waste paints, inks, lamps and batteries and used oil.

According to an administrative consent agreement filed today by EPA Region 7 in Kansas City, Kan., EPA representatives inspected the Fort Madison facility in October 2008 and found several violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which regulates the storage, handling and disposal of hazardous wastes.

Those violations included Scott’s failure to conduct hazardous waste determinations, its operation of a treatment, storage or disposal facility without a permit; failure to conduct required inspections; failure to close hazardous waste storage containers; failure to properly date and label hazardous waste storage containers; having an incomplete hazardous waste training plan; and failure to complete a Land Disposal Restriction (LDR) Waste Analysis Plan and an adequate LDR notice.

As a result of the settlement, Scotts will provide EPA with documentation on updated procedures for the management of its solvent drum and lab waste containers, in accordance with RCRA regulations, and will document its compliance with training requirements and update its list of emergency equipment.

In addition to paying the civil penalty, Scotts has agreed to perform two supplemental environmental projects:

The company will spend at least $122,000 on a wastewater treatment and reuse pilot project, in which hazardous waste streams will receive biological treatment, filtration and reuse. If the pilot project is successful, Scotts may implement the treatment system on a permanent basis at Fort Madison, and could reduce its future hazardous waste stream by as much as 80 percent. The system may also be transferable to other Scotts facilities.

Scotts has also agreed to spend at least $30,000 on a project to identify, remove and safely dispose of obsolete chemicals and hazardous wastes from selected schools in Fort Madison. This project will also facilitate the creation or enhancement of school policies and practices to prevent unnecessary accumulations of chemicals, and will educate faculty and staff on best practices, policies and procedures to incorporate into their chemical management program.