LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – District attorney's offices around California – including Lake's – have reached a settlement with Dollar Tree Stores Inc. over environmental violations.
The Virginia-based corporation agreed to pay $2.72 million in civil penalties, costs and supplemental environmental projects as part of the settlement with 46 county district attorneys and two city attorneys.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson ordered Dollar Tree Stores Inc. to pay the settlement amount and to implement an improved hazardous waste compliance program at its retail stores and distribution centers in California.
The suit, led by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, alleged that Dollar Tree illegally disposed of hazardous wastes at its more than 480 retail stores and distribution centers around California.
O'Malley called the settlement “a significant step toward protection of our environment and statewide public health.”
Officials said an investigation that included statewide inspections of Dollar Tree Stores’ dumpsters by inspectors from district attorney’s offices and other environmental regulators discovered that Dollar Tree was routinely and systematically putting hazardous waste products into store trash bins and, subsequently, sending it into local landfills not permitted to accept such waste products.
Those hazardous items included ignitable and corrosive liquids, toxic materials, batteries, electronic devices and other e-waste, and other hazardous waste generated by circumstances including spills and damage, according to a statement issued by O'Malley.
O'Malley reported that inspections of Dollar Tree Stores over the years also demonstrated that the corporation routinely failed to properly handle and dispose of hazardous waste.
When prosecutors alerted Dollar Tree Stores to the widespread violations, Dollar Tree Stores was cooperative throughout the continued investigation, O'Malley said, adopting and implementing new policies and procedures and training programs designed to properly manage and dispose of hazardous waste.
The hazardous waste is now being collected by state-registered haulers who transport it to authorized disposal facilities, and disposal is properly documented, according to O'Malley.
Lake County District Attorney Don Anderson said this was not a big case for his office, which was represented by a circuit prosecutor from the California District Attorneys Association.
His office's portion of the settlement comes to $1,250 and Lake County Environmental Health receiving $875, with the county's settlement checks arriving on Friday.
Anderson said the settlement was distributed based on the number of stores in a jurisdiction.
In the case of Lake County, there are two Dollar Tree stores – one in Clearlake on Olympic Drive and one in Lakeport on S. Main Street.
As for Lake County's stores, Anderson said they were not specifically investigated, and to his knowledge those two stores had not done anything wrong.
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Dollar Tree, district attorneys reach settlement over hazardous waste handling
- Elizabeth Larson
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