A man was caught on surveillance video throwing 100 bags of sodium hydroxide into dumpsters behind the Central Park Plaza, creating a hazmat situation, according to Largo police.
Largo police arrested Henry Lu, 46, on a felony charge of litter hazardous waste on Thursday.
According to an arrest report, Lu said he was closing his business called Citralabs located at 500 Seminole Boulevard unit C in Largo and did not have enough money to pay for the proper disposal of his sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, that he used to make spa supplies.
Sodium hydroxide is white solid mostly used as a strong chemical base, is highly corrosive and can cause chemical burns.
Lu loaded up the 50-pound bags into a rental van and transported them to the dumpsters at the strip mall, according to police.
Police said Lu's illegal dumping created a hazmat situation involving the Largo Fire Department, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and SWS Environmental Services. The cost to clean up the approximately 5,000 pounds of sodium hydroxide, a class 8 hazardous material, was $10,000, according to SWS contractors.
"It was everywhere out here," said Matthew Jeffrey, the manager at Hotel Liquidation Warehouse. "They said 'Don't go in the back, don't open your door for any reason.' "
Jeffrey said a surveillance camera pointed at the dumpster behind the Hotel Liquidation Warehouse shows a man driving up in a white van early last Saturday morning and throwing bag after bag into the dumpster. At one point, a cloud of chemicals can be seen on the video coming out of a bag in the dumpster.
"He had a cut off shirt on and the paramedics are telling me if you touch it, it'll burn your skin," Jeffrey said. "He was dumping it and it was everywhere."
Jeffrey said the hazmat team pressure-washed the entire area and put all the sodium hydroxide bags into a big red hazmat dumpster.
"I think people should just do the right thing and dump where you're supposed to dump," he said. "They always say one man's trash is another man's treasure. That's not always true."
Lu was released from the Pinellas County jail on Friday on a $5,000 bond.