CA Judge Orders Home Depot To Pay $27M For Illegal Dumping

CALIFORNIA — The Home Depot has been ordered by a California judge to pay $27.84 million to resolve allegations made by eight California counties and the California Attorney General's Office that the home improvement store chain unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste and discarded records without rendering private customer information unreadable.

A complaint filed Feb. 15 in Alameda County alleged that more than 300 Home Depot stores and distribution centers throughout the state were routinely and systematically sending hazardous waste to local landfills that were not permitted to receive those wastes, and were tossing documents containing sensitive customer information into store trash bins, potentially exposing the information to identity thieves.

The civil enforcement action was led by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, the California Attorney General’s Office, the district attorneys of Alameda, Monterey, Riverside, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Ventura and Yolo, and the city attorney of Los Angeles, with assistance by the Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Under the final judgment issued this week by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman, Home Depot must pay $18.5 million in civil penalties and costs, state and county authorities said in a news release Thursday.

An additional $2.5 million will fund supplemental environmental projects furthering consumer protection and environmental enforcement in California, and Home Depot must spend at least $6.8 million in compliance of the environmental measures, authorities said.

The settlement ruling comes after environmental regulators throughout the state conducted a series of waste inspections between 2013 and 2015 of dumpsters belonging to Home Depot stores.

The complaint alleged that of 45 trash compactors belonging to 32 Home Depot stores inspected, all 45 compactors contained hazardous waste — with many of the compactors also containing discarded records containing sensitive customer information that had not been shredded or rendered unreadable.

Unlawfully disposed of hazardous wastes included pesticides, aerosols, paint and colorants, solvents, adhesives, batteries, mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs, electronic waste, key shavings and other toxic, ignitable and corrosive materials, prosecutors alleged.

Discarded records containing customer information included customer names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, according to the complaint.

Upon notice of the investigation, state officials said, Home Depot did take steps to cooperate and to dedicate additional resources toward environmental compliance and improving its hazardous waste and customer record management compliance programs.

Among other things, county and state officials said, Home Depot conducted dozens of its own compactor waste assessments, and placed customer records lockboxes in strategic locations throughout its stores to ensure the proper management of those documents by its employees.

"In addition, in this settlement, Home Depot has committed to employing hazardous waste compliance managers dedicated specifically to ensuring the proper handling and management of hazardous wastes, and to conducting daily store inspections to ensure that hazardous waste and hazardous materials are being properly handled," officials said in the news release.

A permanent injunction against Home Depot is meant to prohibit the company from committing similar violations of the law.

"We’re pleased to have settled this and we remain committed to the responsible disposal of waste," said Home Depot Spokesman Matt Harrigan, in an email to Patch. "We’ll continue to work with California officials to that end."

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