Thirty-eight counties along with Los Angeles and San Diego will received $2.35 million from the parent company of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, under a settlement to end lawsuits over allegations of improper disposal of hazardous waste.
The counties sued in Oct. 2021 alleging that TJX Companies Inc. had disposed of hazardous waste in its regular trash bins that were then directed to municipal landfills, according to media reports.
But municipal landfills are not permitted to act as hazardous waste dumping sites for batteries, aerosol products, electronic devices, cleaning agents, ignitable liquids, or corrosive materials.
“We thought it was a fair settlement for the violations,” said Emily D. Hickok, Monterey County's deputy district attorney. “This is actually the second settlement they've had of this nature. The first one happened in 2014 and that was for about $2 million, as well. So, we thought that was an appropriate amount of money for the current violations.”
At $37,727, Monterey County will receive the largest lump sum followed by $37,717 for San Joaquin and $37,216 for Riverside County. The Orange County District Attorney's office will receive $7,000 compared to $5,000 for the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office and $10,186 for the San Diego County District Attorney’s office.
"We hope this sends a message that these laws are serious, need to be complied with and that companies need to dedicate the resources to ensuring that even if they have programs on paper, they need to be implemented appropriately and properly," Hickok told the Southern California Record.
About $250,000 of the settlement will be used to pay attorneys' fees, costs of the investigation, and enforcement.
The violation was discovered during a waste audit by investigators from the Monterey County District Attorney's office.
“We look at their trash to see if there are any hazardous items in the trash,” Hickok said. “Investigators work for different district attorneys' offices. So, oftentimes but not always, they're employees of the county. Investigators in our counties are peace officers.”
TJX Companies is under an injunction that requires them to conduct a series of self-audits to ensure compliance.
“Hopefully, there are no further violations but, if there were, we would have to evaluate those based on specifics,” Hickok said. “We'll try to monitor their compliance.”
Alleged hazardous waste offenses aren’t unique to TJX Companies Inc.
A series of hazardous waste judgments have been assessed against other retail and big box stores as well.
“There are a bunch of retail industries continuously working on improving their procedures,” Hickok added. “There's been judgments against Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and others.”