28日，美國零售商巨擘沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）對於未依法處理和丟棄有毒殺蟲劑認罪。
美國司法部和環保署官員指出，沃爾瑪將顧客退貨的有毒廢棄物和殺蟲劑丟入市立垃圾桶，液態有毒廢棄物則倒入當地汙水系統。
沃爾瑪將數噸沒有適當安全標示之有毒廢棄物運輸至其全美六個產品退貨中心之一。
洛杉磯和舊金山聯邦檢察官以提起違反《淨水法》（Clean Water Act）起訴沃爾瑪公司，該公司就六項分店未依法運輸和處理有毒殺蟲劑的罪名認罪。
「像沃爾瑪這樣會製造有毒廢棄物的零售商，有責任依法以安全方式處理其有毒廢棄物。把有毒廢棄物丟到排水孔裡，既不合法也不安全。」聯邦地方法院加州分院檢察官André Birotte Jr.如此表示。
依照沃爾瑪在加州分院提出的認罪協議，該公司需支付刑事罰款4000萬美元，外加2000萬資助社區服務計畫，包括支付600萬成立「零售流程管制中心」，協助沃爾瑪全國分店學習如何妥善處理有毒廢棄物。
沃爾瑪也對於全國分店未能妥善處理顧客退貨的殺蟲劑，違反《聯邦殺蟲劑、 殺菌劑和殺鼠劑法》（Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act，FIFRA），在密蘇里州堪薩斯市認罪。
2006年起，沃爾瑪將其損壞的家用商品，包括管制類固態和液態殺蟲劑，運送到位於密蘇里州Neosho的Greenleaf LLC回收中心處理，準備再利用跟再出售。
沃爾瑪員工未能妥善監督Greenleaf回收中心的殺蟲劑處置流程，管制類殺蟲劑被混合後再次出售給顧客，卻未經必要的登記、缺乏原料標示或使用說明，已違反FIFRA。
2006年7月至2008年2月間，沃爾瑪以卡車將超過200萬磅的管制類殺蟲劑和其它家用產品，從其多間退貨中心送到Greenleaf回收中心。2008年11月，Greenleaf回收中心因違反聯邦殺蟲劑、 殺菌劑和殺鼠劑法案被罰款20萬美元。
美國司法部對沃爾瑪提起三項刑事訴訟，美國環保署提起一項相關民事訴訟，沃爾瑪將支付8160萬美元的罰金。
若再加上前述加州和密蘇里州對相同情事提起的訴訟，沃爾瑪總共要為違反聯邦和州環境法付出超過1.1億美元。
除了民事罰款外，沃爾瑪還必須依一份全國性的全面環境保護協議，確實管理各分店產生的有毒廢棄物。此協議要求沃爾瑪各級人員接受辨識和管理有毒廢棄物之訓練，並在各分店跟退貨中心建立環境管理系統。遵守此協議是沃爾瑪刑事訴訟案件的緩刑條件。
Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores today pleaded guilty to illegally handling and disposing of hazardous pesticides at its retail stores across the United States.
Hazardous wastes and pesticides returned to stores by customers were put into municipal trash bins or, if liquid, poured into local sewer systems, according to U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency officials.
Wal-Mart transported tons of these hazardous materials without proper safety documentation to one of six product return centers located throughout the United States.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pleaded guilty in cases filed by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous pesticides at its retail stores.
“Retailers like Wal-Mart that generate hazardous waste have a duty to legally and safely dispose of that hazardous waste, and dumping it down the sink was neither legal nor safe,” said André Birotte Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
As part of a plea agreement filed in California, Wal-Mart was sentenced to pay a $40 million criminal fine. An additional $20 million fine will fund community service projects, including a new $6 million Retail Compliance Assistance Center that will help retail stores across the nation learn how to properly handle hazardous waste.
Wal-Mart also pleaded guilty in Kansas City, Missouri to failing to properly handle pesticides that had been returned by customers at its stores across the country, in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, FIFRA.
Starting in 2006, Wal-Mart began sending damaged household products, including regulated solid and liquid pesticides, from its six return centers to Greenleaf LLC, a recycling facility located in Neosho, Missouri, where the products were processed for reuse and resale.
Because Wal-Mart employees failed to provide adequate oversight of the pesticides sent to Greenleaf, regulated pesticides were mixed together and offered for sale to customers without the required registration, ingredients, or use information, in violation of FIFRA.
Between July 2006 and February 2008, Wal-Mart trucked more than two million pounds of regulated pesticides and other household products from its various return centers to Greenleaf. In November 2008, Greenleaf was convicted of a FIFRA violation and fined $200,000.
As a result of the three criminal cases brought against Wal-Mart by the Justice Department, as well as a related civil case filed by the U.S. EPA, Wal-Mart will pay $81.6 million in penalties.
Coupled with previous actions brought by the states of California and Missouri for the same conduct, Wal-Mart will pay a combined total of more than $110 million to resolve cases alleging violations of federal and state environmental laws.
In addition to the civil penalties, Wal-Mart must implement a comprehensive, nationwide environmental compliance agreement to manage hazardous waste generated at its stores. The agreement requires personnel training at all levels of the company in identification and management of hazardous wastes and establishment of Environmental Management Systems at Wal-Mart stores and return centers. Compliance with this agreement is a condition of probation in the criminal cases.
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