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United States Technology

California is Suing Walmart Over Alleged Improper Disposal of E-waste and Other Hazardous Materials (theverge.com) 39

The California attorney general and 12 state officials have filed a lawsuit against Walmart, saying it allegedly illegally disposed of electronic and hazardous waste, compromising local landfills. From a report: California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges in a statement the company violated state environmental laws with their practices, and the waste included materials like lithium and alkaline batteries, insect killer sprays, aerosol cans, LED lightbulbs, and more. State investigators conducted 58 inspections across 13 counties from 2015 to 2021 and said they found classified hazardous and medical waste in each store's trash compactors, as well as customer information that should have been rendered indecipherable. The California DOJ estimates that Walmart's unlawfully disposed waste totals 159,600 pounds or more than 1 million items each year. "We have met with the state numerous times to walk them through our industry-leading hazardous waste compliance programs in an effort to avoid litigation, but instead, they filed this unjustified lawsuit," Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said in a statement. "The state is demanding a level of compliance regarding waste disposal from our stores of common house-hold products and other items that goes beyond what is required by law. We intend to defend this company."
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California is Suing Walmart Over Alleged Improper Disposal of E-waste and Other Hazardous Materials

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  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Monday December 27, 2021 @02:07PM (#62119917)
    Your policies comply with the law but you don't give your workers the time and resources to actually comply with them. Then when you're inevitably found violating the law you just blame the employees. If the employees don't do the illegal actions they lose their jobs because they can't keep up with the pace required for them.
    • by Kisai ( 213879 )

      This comes as no surprise. Frequently stores like Walmart that are larger than a corner store, just have one large garbage compactor in the back that "everything" goes in. That includes everything from medical biohazards, mercury-filled light bulbs, rotting food, damaged goods, returned goods, batteries, and so forth. They go directly to landfills.

      Oh and it gets so much worse. You know that "faint smell of rotting food" you smell when you enter grocery stores? That is coming directly from the compactor whic

      • You know that "faint smell of rotting food" you smell when you enter grocery stores?

        No, I don't because I wouldn't continue shopping in a grocery store that has a smell of rotting food (assuming I ever entered one like that). Where the hell do you shop for groceries?

  • .. just called it hobo poop and left it on the sidewalk.

  • by cats-paw ( 34890 ) on Monday December 27, 2021 @02:50PM (#62120023) Homepage

    said every company ever

    over regulated, but under prosecuted

    companies now know that they can tie things up in court for a long time and most, very, most importantly, the executives know they are not going to jail.

    The CA attorney general will get a fine levied, and all too small fine, put the fact that he went after them on his resume and nobody will go to jail.

    And every single manager of every single store that did this knew it was illegal, as did their bosses that were nudge-nudge-winking them to get them to do it.

    • by Anonymous Coward
      That's too bad. You can find the best stuff in Walmart dumpsters.
      • Like medical waste?

        • I wasn't aware there were medical offices inside a Walmart.

    • There's apparently no chance that random, low-paid Walmart employees were improperly tossing spray cans, customer paperwork, and broken electronics in the trash/dumpsters? No, it was the evil corporation.

      I wonder what would happen if you checked an equal number of private residences or state offices and analyzed their residential trash - I bet you'd find empty spray cans, dead batteries and broken electronics in their trash also...

    • over regulated, but under prosecuted

      Which is a recipe for insuring businesses in competitive markets
      to violate the regulations. (Otherwise they go under due to competition from those that DO violate the regulations, leaving only regulation violators in business.)

      That's why, for instance, nearly all home repair/improvement contractors use "undocumented" non-citizen labor: If they paid the minimum that citizens or fully-documented guest workers could by law accept (and could sue to obtain if they worked for

  • No matter who loses, we win.

    (Alien vs. Predator joke)

  • by kenh ( 9056 )

    State investigators conducted 58 inspections across 13 counties from 2015 to 2021 and said they found classified hazardous and medical waste in each store's trash compactors, as well as customer information that should have been rendered indecipherable.

    That's it? After rooting through Walmart dumpsters for 6-7 years?

    Maybe go fish through a few other corporations dumpsters over such an extended period and what they do before you claim Walmart is bad. I suspect they are better than a lot of large organizations (like Target, Big Lots, grocery store chains, auto repair chains, etc.)

    But, you know, I guess we have to hold Walmart to a higher standard because, well, politics?

    • in each store's trash compactors

      That's it? After rooting through Walmart dumpsters for 6-7 years?

      Every store failed inspection and you're saying "that's it?"

      It's the maximum amount of failure they could have detected. Regardless of the time term.

      • by kenh ( 9056 )

        They found the same trash you'd find in most residential trash on any given day anywhere in America, but it's WALMART!! So, a news story.

        Seriously, how many of your relatives have a pile of broken electronics (alarm clocks, electric tooth brushes, greeting cards with sound chips, etc) waiting for the community "Electronics Recycling Day"?

        Used bandaid = "medical waste"

        Used facial tissue = "medical waste"

        Used feminine hygiene product = "medical waste"

        Used can of bug spray "hazardous material"

        Dead alkaline ba

        • You replied twice, and didn't say anything. You ignored the story and made up a bunch of bullshit that is irrelevant.

          They failed every inspection.

          Placing cans of aerosol spray into a trash compactor is hazardous. You didn't even comprehend the issue. And yet you attempt a detailed breakdown. Spend less time spewing, take off your "thinking cap," and fucking pay attention to what the story is. Don't be such extreme moron.

      • by kenh ( 9056 )

        . "We have met with the state numerous times to walk them through our industry-leading hazardous waste compliance programs in an effort to avoid litigation, but instead, they filed this unjustified lawsuit," Walmart spokesperson Randy Hargrove said in a statement. "The state is demanding a level of compliance regarding waste disposal from our stores of common house-hold products and other items that goes beyond what is required by law. We intend to defend this company."

        California politicians don't like Walmart, because being anti Walmart gets them votes, even from Walmart shoppers. It will be interesting to see the "shocking evidence" of corporate malfeasance state regulators noticed in their 58 inspections over 6-7 years and compare that to what the law actually is.

  • Alkaline batteries are supposed to go in the trash in most jurisdictions. Our super left leaning city (Minneapolis) even sent out a specific notice about it because people kept leaving them on top of or in their recycling bins.

    https://www.epa.gov/recycle/us... [epa.gov]

    I'm curious about the "medical waste". Did an employee toss a band-aid in the trash?

    • There are lots of things that go in the trash that are not supposed to go into trash compactors, apprently including

      alkaline batteries, insect killer sprays, aerosol cans

      It helps if you notice the others things in the list, and then put your thinking cap on.

      • by poptix ( 78287 )

        Yeah man, I'm onboard with not putting "insect killer sprays, aerosol cans" in the trash. However, it seems pretty clear that they're trying to justify spending 7 years digging through Wal-Mart's trash, and get paid for it.

        Let's see some real data and evidence.

        • Read the lawsuit for yourself

          https://oag.ca.gov/system/file... [ca.gov]

        • by kenh ( 9056 )

          This is the exact text, copied and pasted in the lawsuit, to describe every offense noted in the lawsuit:

          April 28, 2021 (San Joaquin County) - Ignitable aerosol Waste, E-Waste, batteries, liquid and solid Hazardous Waste, Medical Waste, and other Hazardous Wastes were discovered in Walmart’s locked compactor, picked up for Disposal and destined for a municipal landfill not authorized to receive
          Hazardous Waste or E-Waste.

          The date and location merely change. The state obviously doesn't feel the need to better explain the offenses beyond mere cut-and-paste descriptions and creating big, imaginary numbers based on 58 samples extrapolated to all 300 Walmart facilities.

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