Rochester e-waste firm, employee plead guilty to environmental law violations

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A Rochester company and one of its corporate leaders have pleaded guilty in Wayne County Court for their roles in the illegal disposal of 800 tons of electronic waste back in 2016.

Finger Lakes Cleanup and Recycling Consultants, along with project manager Craig Foster, admitted they illegally disposed of electronic waste between May and July in 2016 at the ALPCO site in the Wayne County town of Macedon.

The waste included televisions and computer monitors with cathode ray tubes, which are hazardous because they contain lead.

Foster pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession, disposal and dealing in hazardous wastes (a Class A misdemeanor) and was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and fined $5,000. Finger Lakes Cleanup and Recycling Consultants pleaded guilty to unlawful dealing in hazardous wastes in the first degree a Class E felony) and received a three-year conditional discharge and $5,000 fine.

The pleas follow an earlier guilty pleas by Alton Plumb Jr. and his company, ALPCO, for violating state environmental conservation law.

Plumb received a one-year conditional discharge and was fined $1,500. That followed an agreement to pay $225,000 in civil penalties for environmental law violations and permit violations.

ALPCO pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession, disposal, and dealing in hazardous wastes and was sentenced to an unconditional discharge.

Finger Lakes Cleanup and Recycling Consultants was hired to remediate e-waste at the Geneva Enterprise Development Center in Seneca County, according to the office of state Attorney General Letitia James and the DEC.

Foster enlisted the help of Plumb, despite knowing that ALPCO did not have permit to dispose of the e-waste.

“When hazardous waste is not managed properly, it puts families and communities at risk, and endangers the environment,” James said in a news release. “By disregarding public safety laws and common sense, these companies put residents in harm’s way and stuck local communities with the mess they left behind.”

DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said the agency’s investigation and resulting convictions “sends a strong message the New York State is not a dumping ground for illegal waste disposal and violators will be brought to justice.”

Under New York Environmental Conservation Law, e-waste must be properly disposed of through the appropriate waste or recycling system, and permits are required for an entity to possess e-waste.

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