BALTIMORE — Discount Dry Cleaners LLC, Laurel, Md., and its owner, Mehret Sium, 58, have been convicted of improperly disposing of hazardous waste in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, reports state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler.
Sium, on behalf of her business, pleaded guilty to illegal disposal of hazardous materials. She personally pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with hazardous waste transportation requirements.
The convictions stem from a March 9 incident when the Maryland Department of the Environment Hazardous Response Team was contacted regarding a suspected hazardous drum dumping on Dicus Mill Road near Millersville.
Investigators from the Attorney General’s Environmental Crimes Unit found 18 drums varying in size from 5 to 35 gallons that contained hazardous waste from dry cleaning solvent. Numerous containers had no lids, and none was properly packaged, labeled or marked pursuant to Department of Transportation regulations. The drums were traced back to Discount Dry Cleaners.
