Environmental Expert Accused of Toxic Dumping

ANAHEIM — The former president of an environmental consulting firm faces charges of illegally dumping dangerous chemicals into a garbage bin where they could have instantly killed people nearby if the substances had reacted.

Joseph Zywczak, 52, of Bellflower has been charged with 27 felony counts of illegal disposal and transport of hazardous materials, and of willfully endangering the public with risk of bodily injury.

The chemicals were discovered in a garbage bin behind Zywczak’s defunct Anaheim business after garbage workers fell ill from fumes. Inside the dumpster were pellets, bottles, buckets and drums of chemicals including cyanide, sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid.

Although the volume of material was not particularly large, the highly reactive and potentially lethal nature of the chemicals makes the case unusually serious, prosecutors say.