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Dec. 28 (UPI) -- California has filed a statewide lawsuit against Walmart over hazardous waste dumping claims. Walmart allegedly violated the state's environmental laws and regulations by disposing of hazardous waste at local landfills unequipped to receive such waste.
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The waste included alkaline and lithium batteries, insect killer sprays and other pesticides, aerosol cans, toxic cleaning supplies, electronic waste, latex paints, and LED lightbulbs, along with confidential customer information, according to a statement on the lawsuit.
The California Department of Justice estimates the company unlawfully disposed of more than 1 million items, approximately 159,600 pounds, annually, according to Walmart's inspections results, the statement noted.
"Walmart's own audits found that the company is dumping hazardous waste at local landfills at a rate of more than one million items each year," California Attorney General Rob Bont said in the statement. "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. This lawsuit should serve as a warning to the state's worst offenders. We will hold you accountable."
The California Department of Toxic Substances Control and 12 district attorneys joined Bonta in filing the 42-page lawsuit.
Walmart corporate spokesperson Randy Hargrove told The Verge and CNN in a statement the lawsuit was "unjustified," and the company would defend itself.
"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," Hargrove said in the statement. "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 this company."
Hargrove added in another statement to The Verge that compactor waste audits "conducted or overseen by the California attorney general have shown that the compactor waste contain at most .4% of items of potential concern," compared to a 3% statewide average.
Walmart has faced previous lawsuits over alleged illegal hazardous waste dumping.
The company reached a $25 million settlement with the California attorney general in 2010 for illegally disposing hazardous waste.
In 2013, Walmart agreed to pay more than $81 million after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by illegally disposing hazardous materials, and to violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act by failing to properly handle pesticides customers returned to its stores across the country.
Still, from 2015 to the current year, California investigators conducted 58 inspections across 13 counties and found dozens of items classified as hazardous waste, medical waste, and/or customer records with personal information, in each and every case, the statement from the state's attorney general's office noted.
