Wal-Mart to pay disposal fines

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to state fines surpassing $25,000 for hazardous waste violations at its stores in Ellsworth and Skowhegan.

The Board of Environmental Protection later this week is expected to approve the administrative consent agreement with Wal-Mart to resolve the violations.

The agreement stems from two unrelated incidents at the stores, both of which were discovered through complaints to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

In Ellsworth, a store employee dumped about 60 gallons of waste photographic fixer into the sewer system on June 25, 2000, according to information from DEP. The fixer solution had accumulated because of a malfunctioning silver recovery unit at the store and had not been treated by the unit.

Also, an employee dumped waste photographic fixer solution into the sewer system from the recovery unit after treatment, but, because the unit had malfunctioned, it contained levels of silver that exceeded state limits, making it a hazardous material.

DEP staff members determined the treated waste fixer contained 8.7 milligrams per liter of silver, above the state regulatory limits of 5 milligrams per liter.

In addition, the store had operated the silver recovery unit, to remove silver from the used fixer solution, without a state license.

In Skowhegan, store employees disposed of several bags of broken and outdated pesticide and fertilizer products by dumping them in the woods near the store. The products contained a material identified as 2,4-D, which is a hazardous material in Maine. Staff from the Board of Pesticide Control identified four samples in June 1999 and also identified a second site where pesticides had been disposed.

In both cases, according to DEP, employees failed to determine that the materials they had discarded were, in fact, hazardous waste.

According to Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz, both incidents involved actions that violated company policies as well as state regulations.

“We work very hard to follow the rules and to be good neighbors wherever we have stores,” Wertz said. “When actions like this happen, it’s upsetting to us.”

He said the company had contended that the incidents were not a case of Wal-Mart violations, but of violations by individual employees. He added, however, that Wal-Mart had accepted responsibility for those actions.

“That’s why we signed the agreement,” Wertz said. “We try to take responsibility for the things we do.”

Wertz said the company already has made some changes, including re-plumbing the photo center in order to eliminate the possibility of errors.

Wal-Mart officials already have signed the agreement, which carries with it a $25,500 penalty. The BEP will review the agreement at its meeting Thursday. The DEP has recommended approval of the consent agreement.

If approved by the BEP, the agreement includes several stipulations in addition to the penalty, which will be paid to the Maine Hazardous Waste Fund.

It requires Wal-Mart to stop operating silver recovery units in its stores in Maine until it has obtained a license to treat that hazardous waste. It also requires that the company conduct regular testing of the effluent from all of the units once they are in operation and to provide the results of those lab tests to the DEP for the next two years.

The company also must conduct an audit of all garden centers, photo processing centers and automotive repair facilities at all 21 Wal-Marts in Maine. That report must include each center’s hazardous waste management procedures, including storage and disposal procedures, as well as lists of all hazardous wastes generated at each site.