California's environmental prosecutors have scrutinized
hazardous waste management for several years now, particularly at
major retailers. This focus has led to California settlements
with Costco, CVS, Home Depot, Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens,
among other retailers. The settlements resolved alleged
mismanagement of hazardous waste generated from material such as
consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and general home improvement
products.
In a settlement agreement filed on December 16, 2015 in the
Alameda County Superior Court (
here), Comcast Cable agreed to pay the State of California more
than $25 million to resolve allegations related to improper
handling and disposal of hazardous waste. In this instance,
most of the waste at issue was hazardous electronic waste
("e-waste"), including, for example, remote controls,
modems, and amplifiers. The investigation also revealed that
Comcast discarded documents without shredding them first, which
included customer
