Wal-Mart Toxic Dumping: Company Guilty of Improper Disposal, Hazardous to Health

Oops. Wal-Mart was just caught with egg on its face. Or, actually, a more accurate way to put it might be hazardous waste in its parking lot.

The Inquisitor notes that the company recently plead guilty to dumping hazardous waste throughout the United States at several of their facilities. The settlement included in the agreement is that the company pay $81 million in damages.

The criminal lawsuits were filed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Kansas City, Mo., according to various Wal-Mart employees who apparently disposed of the toxic waste illegally, and worse yet, this dumping included Wal-Marts across the United States.

USA Today reports that employees never received the proper training to dispose the hazardous materials, that were placed in trash bins, poured into sewers or even transported to other areas without containment or documentation.

Assistant attorney general Ignacia Moreno, the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said, according to The Raw Story, that these acts violated federal laws.

"By improperly handling hazardous waste, pesticides and other materials in violation of federal laws, Wal-Mart put the public and the environment at risk and gained an unfair economic advantage over other companies," he said, according to The Raw Story.

KTVU News also reports that this is a violation of the Clean Water Act, with charges specified to 16 counties in California alone for the improper disposal of toxic waste. 

The Encyclopedia Britannica notes that the collection, treatment and disposal of waste material can cause a safety hazard to humans and the general environment. For instance, for those living near areas where waste was improperly stored or disposed, this can even be lethal as groundwater supplies or surface contaminates can cause the area to become poisoned. 

Let's hope everything is figured out soon.