Warehouse 25 at Clopton SiteWorks on South Side is the best evidence that the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority has failed to keep its promise to properly dispose of old and broken TVs and computer monitors that are filled with toxic metals.

For years, CVWMA has collected such items as the agency created by Richmond and other area governments to handle the recycling of paper, plastics and other materials.

The company says on its website that the electronics would be “demanufactured for recycling.”

People bringing TVs and computers are charged up to $20 to help cover the cost of recycling the equipment.

CVWMA even boasts on its website that “over 5 million pounds of e-waste has been recycled through this program since 2006.”

However, hundreds of boxes stuffed with used TVs and computer monitors fill the former tobacco warehouse at the small business center in South Side.

The boxes stretch for yards, about half the size of a football field.

It’s an all-too-familiar story heard across the country — companies that promise recycling of the items that are later found in warehouses, leaving the warehouse owners stuck with the material.

In this case, the problem has hit John Gregory, owner of Clopton SiteWorks with his father. The Gregorys are working to transform the 28 old tobacco warehouses on the sprawling property into new homes for job-generating small companies.

Mr. Gregory gets worked up every time he looks into the warehouse and sees the mess, which he said was viewed in recent months by Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney and members of Richmond City Council.

“This is absolutely wrong,” Mr. Gregory said. “We’re trying to build up our community and, instead, we’re being used as a dumping ground.”

Rodney T. Gaines agrees. The full-time barber and part-time recycler of cardboard and wooden pallets is so appalled by the dumping that he calls it a “slap in the face” to the community.

Mr. Gaines is leading a petition drive to urge CVWMA to remove the material.

Mr. Gregory said the boxes were placed in the warehouse by a vendor that CVWMA hired to handle the recycling. The company, eWaste Tech Systems, is owned by Felipe Wright, according to the Gregorys and CVWMA officials. Mr. Gregory said materials also may be stuffed into three additional warehouses on South Side.

Mr. Wright rented Warehouse 25 in April 2016, Mr. Gregory said, as a temporary holding site for electronic items awaiting proper recycling.

Mr. Gregory said he did not know the boxes of electronics were merely being dumped until he went to court in the fall to evict eWaste Tech for nonpayment of rent and discovered the extent of the situation.

He said that he has been advised that it would cost $135,000 to truck the boxes to another recycling vendor and have the material properly handled. He estimates there are 285,000 pounds of material, or a little more than 142 tons at the site, enough to fill eight to 10 tractor-trailers.

Mr. Gregory said his father notified CVWMA about the problem in January.

The CVWMA board voted in May to sever ties with Mr. Wright, according to board minutes.

But the recycling agency also notified the Gregorys that it had no responsibility for Mr. Wright’s actions and would not cover the cost to remove the electronic waste.

Kim Hynes, CVWMA executive director, confirmed that position in response to a Free Press query.

“The responsibility for recycling the TVs and monitors rests with eWaste Tech,” she stated. She added that under its contract with that company, “CVWMA never at any point took ownership of the material.”

She stated that CVWMA agreed around January 2016 to increase the fees it paid to eWaste Tech when the company reported that the vendor it used to recycle cathode ray tube material in TVs and computer monitors went out of business, but that it had found another vendor who charged more.

Mr. Gregory calls CVWMA’s rejection of responsibility bogus. He cited a federal law that has long barred a person hiring a third party to dispose of hazardous material from “washing their hands of responsibility” when the third party illegally disposes of the material.

He also said that CVWMA knew this could happen. In fact, he said CVWMA hired eWaste Tech in 2015 to replace a previous contractor that engaged in the same practice.

According to published news reports, that company trucked the materials to warehouses in North Carolina, where it was left. Localities in North Carolina paid to remove and dispose of the material, according to news reports.

Mr. Gregory also noted that under the federal recycling law, CVWMA is required to receive certificates attesting to the proper recycling of the electronic material and to audit Mr. Wright to ensure the company’s performance.

“That never happened,” Mr. Gregory said.

CVWMA is seeking to do better. The board of the public service agency approved hiring two new contractors to recycle electronics and also approved greater oversight, including regular audits.

Mr. Gregory has complained to the Environmental Protection Agency seeking an investigation. He and his father also are considering legal action to force CVWMA to conduct the cleanup.

“It’s become a real disaster for us and for our project” to renovate the warehouses into homes for new businesses.

“This is bad for South Side. We already have developed space for five companies who have at least 70 employees working on site. When this project is completed, we expect at least 500 people will be working here. But we cannot move forward until this is resolved.”