DA says Oceanside man sold toxic mulch

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said that the owner of an Oceanside landscaping company has been charged with mixing garden mulch with hazardous waste products — including carcinogens — and selling it as “shredded hardwood,” a product that homeowners purchase for use in gardens or a child’s playground.

Victor Liotta, 46, of Oceanside, owner of Liotta Bros. Recycling Corporation, were arrested on March 28 by DA Investigators. He was charged with Scheme to Defraud in the first degree, Prohibited Disposal of Solid Waste, Operation of a Solid Waste Management Facility Without a Permit, and Misbranded or Adulterated Fertilizer. His corporation was also charged. Liotta was arraigned in District Court in Hempstead on March 28 and could face four years in jail.

Liotta Bros. Recycling Corp operates in two locations: the first is a solid waste management facility, located on Daly Boulevard in Oceanside, that receives, sorts, disposes and/or recycles non-hazardous solid waste. The second site is a retail store called “Island Hopper Landscape Supplies,” located on Long Beach Road in Island Park. Liotta sells by products from the recycling facility as gardening and landscaping supplies, including top soil, mulch, gravel, rocks, paving stones, and slate from the Island Park storefront. 

In March 2010, during a random spot-check by a NYSDEC engineer, it was discovered that a sample of wood chips from Liotta’s landscaping company contained amounts of wood which had been stained, chemically treated, or glued, and other unauthorized construction and demolition debris, including plastic chips, floor tiles, rags, sheet metal and rubber.

  The DEC referred the case to the DA’s Environmental Crimes Unit. Further investigation revealed that in addition to wood chips, bags of garden mulch being sold at the retail landscaping store were also mixed with unauthorized construction waste, even though the bags were marked “100% shredded hardwood.” DA Investigators made several undercover buys of the hazardous mulch.

“The defendant was more concerned with making money than the fact that he was peddling hazardous waste to homeowners and potentially poisoning our children while innocently playing in their own backyards,” Rice said. “This is a disturbing crime that can have long-term affects to our environment and water supply.”

Rice said to eliminate the potential for hazardous mulch, consumers should choose mulch made by companies whose wood comes from raw lumber rather than any type of unadulterated recycled wood items.