A settlement of over $1 million has been reached with Dollar Tree stores over alleged distribution center violations in San Joaquin and San Bernardino counties, officials said.
Last week, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Barbara Kronlund approved the settlement, resolving a civil enforcement action against discount chain store Dollar Tree.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office will receive a total of $800,000 in cost recovery and civil penalties and the San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department will receive a total of $220,000, according to a press release from the DA’s office.
In 2019, three large bleach spills reportedly occurred at Dollar Tree’s distribution centers, both in San Joaquin and San Bernardino counties within a short period of time, the district attorney’s office said.
Inspections also revealed alleged statutory and regulatory hazardous waste violations that included a large number of hazardous waste items in store trash compactors.
The inspections were conducted by San Joaquin County Environmental Health Department and audits from San Bernardino County showed similar violations in 2019 and 2021, according to a press release from the San Joaquin District Attorney’s Office.
“As we recently showed with the Kaiser Settlement, violation of hazardous waste regulations will simply not be tolerated in San Joaquin County,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said. “The environmental health and safety of our communities are of the utmost importance to this office.”
The store was ordered to pay civil penalties for their alleged hazardous waste/hazardous materials violations, conduct multiple annual waste audits at each of its distribution centers in California over the next five years, and must continue to implement a trash inspection program at every store.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said the settlement was entered in conjunction with 48 DA’s and two other city attorney’s offices from around California but did not state the total amount of the settlement.