Contact: Jeanne Garcia
818.551.2176
Ron Baker
916.324.3142
California Department of Toxic Substance Control

Los Angeles, CA – November 29, 2004
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) today announced that the Superior Court has approved a $400,000 Judgment Pursuant Stipulation (Judgment) with Filter Recycling Services, Inc. (FRS) for hazardous waste management and shipping
violations occurring at its facility located at 180 West Monte Avenue in Rialto, San Bernardino County. Also listed as co-defendants in the Judgment were Integrated Waste Management, Inc.
and Jon Bennett, Jr.

Under terms of the Judgment, signed on October 27, 2004, FRS will pay a total of $400,000, of which $187,500 is an administrative penalty and $150,000 is reimbursement of costs incurred by DTSC. FSR will also pay $62,500 to the San Bernardino County Hazardous Materials Responders Association as a Supplemental Environmental Project.

?Proper storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous waste are central to protecting the health of Californians. The actions related to Filter Recycling Services are an important step forward toward this goal. We are pleased that they are willing to work with us to correct these violations,? said B.B. Blevins, Director of DTSC.

The Judgment contains, amount other things, the following compliance conditions:

? FRS shall not engage in activities that require the owner or operator to obtain a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit for the treatment, storage, or disposal of
hazardous waste

? FRS shall not accept any shipment or container of hazardous waste that is clearly recognizable as containing a RCRA regulated hazardous waste

? As a transporter, FRS shall not transfer hazardous waste to Integrated Waste Management (IWM) nor will FRS receive hazardous waste from IWM for further transportation. However, as a facility FRS may accept waste delivered by IWM

In addition, on each occasion that FRS represents to a generator or broker that wastes are being recycled and FRS intends or expects that the waste will be used solely as alternative daily cover at a landfill and/or placed in or on land, FRS is required to issue a statement to the generator describing the intended or likely disposition of the waste.

The Civil Complaint (Complaint) and subsequent Judgment were in part based on violations observed by DTSC inspectors during inspections at the FRS facility and identified during
investigations of the defendants from April 1997 through August 2004.

The Complaint alleged that the defendants committed a number of violations, including the following:

? Accepting a drum full of plating waste

? Accepting drums containing non-empty aerosol cans

? Accepting wastes described as RCRA waste on 16 manifests

? Accepting hazardous waste which it is not authorized to accept

? Storing hazardous waste longer than 10 days during the course of transportation

? Exceeding authorized treatment capacity for at least three years

? Making false statements on manifests both received and sent FSR has agreed to correct the violations found during DTSC?s inspections and investigations.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control?s mission is to restore, protect, and enhance the environment and ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality by
regulating hazardous waste, conducting and overseeing cleanups, and developing and promoting pollution prevention.