CA Sues Walmart Over Disposal Of Toxic Waste

San Francisco CA

21 December, 2021

6:23 PM

Description

CALIFORNIA — Walmart has been accused of illegally dumping hazardous waste into California's landfills, according to a lawsuit filed by the state this week. The retail giant disposes more than 1 million batteries, aerosol cans of insect killer, toxic cleaning supplies, electric waste, latex paints and other hazardous waste each year, according a joint lawsuit filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Department of Toxic Substances and 12 district attorneys. "From there, these products may seep into the state's drinking water as toxic pollutants or into the air as dangerous gases," Bonta wrote in a statement Monday. "When one person throws out a battery or half-empty hairspray bottle, we may think that it's no big deal. But when we're talking about tens of thousands of batteries, cleaning supplies, and other hazardous waste, the impact to our environment and our communities can be huge," he said. Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the massive chain will fight the "unjustified lawsuit," which was filed Monday. "The state is demanding a level of compliance regarding waste disposal from our stores of common household products and other items that goes beyond what is required by law," Hargrove said. Bonta's office said that Walmart is believed to have violated California's environmental laws and regulations for the past six years by dumping toxic items into landfills that are "not equipped or authorized to receive this type of waste." In 2010, the state's attorney general's office settled a similar lawsuit with Walmart in which the conglomerate had to pay $25 million and agree to cease such disposal of toxic waste into local landfills. It paid $1.25 million to Missouri in 2012 to settle a similar lawsuit. And in 2013, the company pleaded guilty to six federal misdemeanors of negligently discharging a pollutant into drains in 16 California counties, part of an $81 million deal that also included charges in Missouri. Hargrove said a judge was ready to sign off in 2018 on Walmart's compliance under the 2010 settlement until the attorney general's office started a new investigation with "new rules" in a bid to force a new settlement. "When a big box store disposes of unwanted goods, just like the rest of us, they need to do so properly. Unfortunately, Walmart — the largest company in the world by revenue — has failed to do that on a grand scale here in California," Bonta said. More than 3,800 audits overseen by the state attorney general's office since 2010 have found that Walmart's trash compactors "contain at most 0.4 percent of items of potential concern," compared to a statewide average of 3 percent, Hargrove said: "Our compactors are far cleaner than the state average." But Bonta said that Walmart's own audit revealed that it legally disposes of some 80 tons of hazardous waste each year, or 1 million items. "Despite repeated enforcements against Walmart over the past two decades, it consistently – and knowingly – fails to comply with California's environmental protection laws," California Department of Toxic Substances Control Director Meredith Williams said in a statement. From 2015 to 2021, Bonta's office said California investigators conducted 58 inspections across 13 counties of trash compactors taken from Walmart stores. In each case, dozens of hazardous items, medical waste and customer records with personal information were found. "Pesticides, electronics, household hazardous waste must be disposed of properly, or they can be released into our air, our water and soil resulting in a number of negative health outcomes — including cancer, neurological disorders, asthma, or learning disabilities," Williams said a news conference. The Associated Press contributed to this report.