Last week E-Scrap News reported on several warehouses in Arizona and Colorado where large amounts of CRTs were left behind when the plants closed. Two firms — Dow Management and Luminous Recycling — shut their doors, leaving as much as 10,000 tons of CRTs and CRT glass.
Now E-Scrap News has learned of an abandoned warehouse in Baltimore containing approximately 3,000 Gaylord containers filled with CRTs. The plant was operated by CDM eCycling, which has gone out of business.
In an interview with E-Scrap News, Mike Fannon, one of the owners of CDM, explained how the firm got into the position of having to close. The company previously sent CRT glass to Samsung-Corning in South Korea, but that glass furnace closed. CDM then sent glass to TDM in Mexico, but when TDM stopped handling CRT glass for approximately a year, CDM ended up accumulating material. CDM then sold glass to two primary lead smelters, Xstrata in New Brunswick and Doe Run in Missouri, but eventually was unable to get purchase orders to ship additional glass. “The piles kept snowballing,” said Fannon.
At the same time, Fannon encountered management problems with his business partner, who eventually left the firm. To keep the company going, Fannon put his home on the line in order to make payroll. “All the problems added up to my eventually closing the facility in July 2012,” he said.
The facility’s landlord has sued for back rent, future rent payments and for the cost of removing the CRTs. Fannon has filed for personal bankruptcy court protection.
UPDATE:
Jay Apperson, deputy director of the Maryland Department of the Environment’s office of communications commented:
The Maryland Department of the Environment inspected the Baltimore warehouse that is believed to have been leased by CDM eCycling and found containers of cathode ray tubes. As part of the investigation the Department is reviewing a plan from the owner of the building to assess any environmental issues. The investigation is ongoing.