How CPM Waterloo’s Safety Failures Exposed the Cracks in Hazardous Waste Enforcement

In July 2024, federal EPA inspectors walked into a Waterloo, Iowa, manufacturing facility and uncovered a pattern of carelessness that exposed workers, the surrounding community, and the environment to toxic risk. The company– CPM Waterloo, formerly Roskamp Manufacturing— had been shipping hazardous waste without federal authorization, skipping labeling rules meant to protect human life.

The EPA’s price for that negligence was a $12,500 fine.

A Pattern of Negligence

How the System Failed

• Unlabeled Hazardous Waste: Inspectors found three storage containers of hazardous waste with no “Hazardous Waste” labels as required by law.
• No Hazard Indications: The same containers had no markings or warnings describing the dangers of their contents—ignitable, corrosive, or toxic.
• Missing Dates: A 55-gallon drum of waste paint materials had no accumulation start date, violating federal requirements that track how long dangerous materials are stored.
• Unauthorized Shipments: The facility made four offsite shipments of hazardous waste without ever obtaining an EPA identification number.
• Illegal Transport Documents: Instead of federally mandated hazardous waste Manifests, CPM Waterloo used bills of lading, a loophole that erases accountability for where toxic waste ends up.
• Used Oil Mismanagement: Inspectors also found two containers of used oil that weren’t labeled at all, concealing their contents from workers and responders.

Each failure was a broken link in the national safety chain designed to prevent contamination and injury.

The Macro Consequences

The Economic Fallout

When a company like CPM mishandles hazardous materials, the cost doesn’t end with a fine. It falls on local taxpayers and small businesses forced to shoulder cleanup, remediation, or property devaluation if contamination occurs. By evading full regulatory tracking, CPM Waterloo shifted potential future liability off its balance sheet and onto the local community’s.

The Public Health Crisis

Unlabeled hazardous waste and oil drums mean workers and first responders can’t know what chemicals they’re exposed to during spills, fires, or accidents. In industrial towns like Waterloo– already burdened by legacy pollution– such negligence compounds long-term risks of toxic exposure and respiratory illness.

The Environmental Toll

Improperly labeled or shipped hazardous waste can end up in unpermitted landfills or incinerators. Without manifests or EPA oversight, those materials could leach into Iowa’s groundwater, contaminate soil, or contribute to air toxins released during improper disposal.

The Erosion of Trust

By allowing CPM Waterloo to settle for just $12,500, the EPA sends a clear message to other similar corporate polluters: compliance failures are cheaper than compliance itself. This quite obviously undermines faith in environmental enforcement and signals to other manufacturers that self-policing (and quiet settlement) is business as usual.

The Bottom Line: Accountability Deferred

CPM Waterloo neither admitted nor denied the allegations. The company paid the fine, certified that the violations were “corrected,” and walked away without any admission of wrongdoing.
The EPA, for its part, declared the matter resolved—no criminal charges, no follow-up transparency, and no public health evaluation.

The punishment does not fit the crime! When a manufacturer illegally ships toxic waste and conceals its contents, a $12,500 fine is basically a licensing fee.

The real story here is that of our systemic failure of enforcement where regulatory shortcuts, “expedited settlements,” and bureaucratic leniency keep the machinery of pollution turning.

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