Target Settles $22.5M For Hazardous Waste Violations

The Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis Target, two stories with a varied facade to mimic multiple buildings.
The tower in the background is Target Corp. headquarters.

Retail giant Target (NYSE: TGT) has agreed to pay 22.5M to settle a lawsuit filed against the company in June 2009 for alleged violation of California's hazardous waste law by improperly disposing these materials to landfills AND for disposing them off to California Food Bank.

Target has reached a tentative agreement with California's attorney general. As part of the deal, the retailer does not acknowledge any wrongdoing and a county judge is scheduled to review the agreement on March 2, 2011. On top of the settlement, Target must also train staff how to properly dispose off waste materials and pay an independent auditor to check for compliance for the next three years after the signing of the final approval of the settlement. Also, Target shall pay around $3.4M to the California Attorney General's Office.

Here's what happened in June 2009: A lawsuit filed against Target Stores in California in June 2009 over disposal of hazardous waste materials by a joint complaint in Alameda County Superior Court. It alleges that over an 8 year period, more than 200 Target stores dumped various hazardous wastes including but not limited to bleaches, pesticides, paints, aerosols, and other flammable substances into landfills throughout the state. It also alleges that Target had donated these waste products to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Who would think that this typical store of Target with its clean and tidy isles was
fined with $22.5M for unhealthy dumping of hazardous materials in the State of
California and for donating them to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank?

There are more than 1,700 Target retail stores in the US and 236 of them are in California. If the stores in the state practice improper dumping and donating of wastes, there is no doubt that the rest of Target stores throughout the country may have illegally dumped similar wastes or donated them to local food banks as well.


Please note that this is not the first time the company has settlement issues with similar issue.

Target had just settled in another similar case, this time, the selling of expired baby food in 2009, the same year the retailer was slapped with violation of dumping of hazardous materials.

Hmmm... there is something fishy (literal and figurative) going on with these stores. Extra care is necessary when you get food from your local food banks. We assume that what we get from them are perfectly safe. But due to some evil practices by retail and grocery stores, they may not be as safe as you may have thought of.

• To read the whole story, visit MailOnline.
• To read more about Expired Food, this article may help you: Expired Food: What consumers should know

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