99 Cents Only Stores to Pay $2.3 Million to Settle Hazardous Waste Case

Los Angeles-based 99 Cents Only Stores -- with a location in Gilroy -- will pay more than $2.36 million to resolve allegations that hazardous waste from its stores was illegally dumped in area landfills, authorities said today.

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The settlement -- approved by San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bob McNatt -- is the culmination of a civil enforcement investigation into 99 Cents Only Stores’ improper storage, handling and disposal of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste products into company trash bins at each of its 251 stores and distribution centers in California, prosecutors said.

Instead of being sent to authorized disposal sites, hazardous waste and other contaminated materials were unlawfully transported to landfills, according to prosecutors.

[In a similar case today: Safeway to Pay Nearly $10M for Improper Disposal of Hazardous Waste.]

Upon being notified by prosecutors of the widespread issues, 99 Cents Only Stores worked cooperatively to remedy the issue and train its employees to properly handle hazardous waste being generated through damage, spills and returns, authorities said.

The hazardous waste is now being collected by state-registered haulers, taken to proper disposal facilities and properly documented and accounted for.

“This judgment protects the environment and public health,” Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said. “And it demonstrates the strong commitment of prosecutors and environmental agencies throughout California to enforce our hazardous waste laws.”

The City Attorney’s Office was one of 29 prosecuting agencies across the state involved in the case.

Under the settlement, which includes a permanent injunction against 99 Cents Only Stores, the corporation must pay $1.8 million in civil penalties, $312,500 in costs and $250,000 in supplemental environmental projects.

As a result of the prosecution and settlement, California 99 Cents Only Stores have also adopted new policies and procedures designed to eliminate the disposal of retail hazardous waste products and pharmaceutical waste into store trash bins for eventual disposal into local landfills, which are not equipped to handle such waste, prosecutors said.

--City News Service

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