RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A lawsuit filed today by the California Department of Justice against Walmart alleging improper disposal of hazardous waste and customers' records is being supported by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, though the corporation insists the civil action is "unjustified" and intends to mount a vigorous defense.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta is alleging that over the past six years, Walmart dumped prohibited items in landfills, violating the Hazardous Waste Control Law, the Medical Waste Management Act, the Customer Personal Information Law and sections of the Health & Safety Code.
The retailer operates over 300 stores statewide, and according to prosecutors, there were allegedly routine instances of Walmart's personnel discarding customers' documents, alkaline and lithium batteries, pesticides, aerosols, electronics, latex gloves and similar products into public dump sites.
"Walmart's own audits found that the company is dumping hazardous waste at local landfills at a rate of more than one million each year," Bonta said. "From there, these products may seep into the state's drinking water as toxic pollutants, or into the air as dangerous gases."
"When one person throws out a battery or half-empty hairspray bottle, we may think that it's no big deal," he said.
"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."
In a statement released to City News Service, Walmart countered that, since 2010 when it was first sued by the state, it had instituted an "industry- leading hazardous waste compliance program in an effort to avoid litigation." At that time, the California DOJ and Walmart reached a $25 million settlement following a civil action over findings that staff had tossed hazardous waste into public dumps.
"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. We intend to defend the company," according to the statement.
"In 2018, the court agreed that `Walmart had done so close to everything that's required that nothing more can be required,"' the company said. "Yet, as the court was prepared to relieve Walmart of its obligations under the settlement, the California Attorney General's Office launched a new investigation with new rules in hopes that Walmart would enter another settlement requiring another substantial financial payment."
The 2010 injunction required the corporation to change its practices, but according to the DOJ, 58 inspections between 2015 and this year revealed that "trash compactors taken from Walmart stores ... (contained) items classified as hazardous waste and customer records with personal information."
The civil complaint said three of the identified incidents occurred in Riverside County.
Walmart said that 3,800 environmental inspections have been carried out since 2010, and "audits of our compactor waste... have shown the waste in our compactors contain, at most, 0.4% of items of potential concern. The statewide average is 3% based on a Cal Recycle solid waste study, so Walmart's compactors are far cleaner than the state average."
The lawsuit is seeking injunctive relief in the form of financial penalties and Walmart's commitment to future compliance with all of the applicable laws that it allegedly violated.
According to Walmart, it is a "responsible corporate citizen in California" and takes its "obligation to protect the environment seriously."
Along with Riverside County, other jurisdictions signed onto the suit are Alameda, Fresno, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Solano, Tulare and Yolo counties.
Proceedings are expected to be handled in Alameda County.
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