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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― A CBS 5 investigation which uncovered a huge loophole into California's e-waste recycling laws is prompting enforcement action in a neighboring state.

California's recycling rules are so strict that we send our electronic waste across state borders. CBS 5 Investigates found a huge pile of glass from California's TVs and monitors in Arizona, a pile that environmental experts said contained potential environmental hazards. Now officials in Arizona agree.

The pile consisted of thousands of pounds of glass, broken-up screens from California's supposedly recycled TVs and monitors. But that glass contains lead, and activists like Basel Action Network's Jim Puckett told CBS 5: "I was pretty horrified to tell you the truth."

The owner of that glass recycling facility, Dave Dlubak, told us it wasn't a problem. "We've never really had an issue, and we don't know that we have an issue now."

But the state of Arizona has found problems as well. In an inspection conducted after CBS 5's story aired in May, Arizona's Department of Environmental Quality said it found the storage of that leaded glass violates state and federal environmental regulations requiring hazardous waste to be "stored in a building with a roof, floor and walls."

Not only that, but the report showed tests of soil samples taken from the site found the toxic metal barium, and lead. How much lead? A sample from a floor sweep indoors gave a measurement of 280 milligrams per liter, a quantity far exceeding the regulatory level of 5mg/l. And a sample taken outside along a fence next to fruit trees gave an even higher result, at 380 milligrams per liter.

Dlubak didn't respond to CBS 5's requests for comment on the notice from regulators, and those testing results. But Sheila Davis with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, who reviewed those results with the help of experts, said: "The lead is very high."

And she said finding it in the soil is a concern: "Lead is very well documented in terms of the health hazard." Of CBS 5's investigation, she said: "We're glad that you went over there and exposed what was really happening."

But now, California recyclers face another problem, where to send all that glass. Recyclers such as John Shegarian who heads Electronic Recyclers International, or E.R.I.

At its mammoth Fresno plant, the company processes more of California's electronic waste than anyone else, taking in everything. "From a lawn mower, to a printer, to a hard drive, this is across the board," Shegarian told CBS 5. Shegarian said he breaks it all down into commodities, most of which can be sold and reused.

But that lead-filled glass is the exception, because California's strict environmental laws don't allow it to be processed here. When CBS 5 Investigates visited E.R.I. earlier this year, Shegarian confirmed that E.R.I. sent its glass to that facility in Arizona. "We personally went there and we were satisfied by what we saw."

But after watching CBS 5 video, he said if there "were" violations found "I would say if they have not cured the violation once they have been made aware of it, then absolutely we would be concerned and they would probably not be an approved vendor."

Shegarian told CBS5 he's stopped shipping there, at least for the time being, meaning ERI has to find another place to send its glass. And where? That's the big question for all of California's recyclers: What to do with the junk TVs and computer monitors practically no one wants. "It's a crisis because they were not initially designed at all to be recycled, they're hazardous waste, and we don't know what to do with them."

So what should consumers do with their old TVs? Right now the best option is to pick a recycler that is ranked as an e-steward company by the environmental group Basel Action Network.

However, ERI is an e-steward company. And as we discovered, that company too was sending CRT glass to Yuma. So in the case of this toxic glass, unfortunately for consumers, it may not be a guarantee.

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