EPA hits Macy’s for hazardous waste violations

Macy’s must pay a $375,000 fine and train its employees in Oklahoma, Texas and other parts of the nation on how to properly dispose of hazardous materials, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on Wednesday.

The regulatory action settles an action the EPA took against Macy’s Retail Holdings Inc. for violations it accused the company of making at 44 locations in Texas and Oklahoma between 2012 and 2015.

“The EPA takes hazardous waste regulations seriously, and we appreciate companies taking responsibility to correct violations,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. “Appropriately managing hazardous waste from ‘cradle-tograve’ is vital to protecting people’s health and the environment.”

State environmental regulators expressed satisfaction with the agreement, adding they also applauded the requirement that Macy’s train its employees to follow the law in the future.

“The Macy’s settlement highlights the importance of states and EPA working together on commonsense approaches that respect the needs of businesses, while still protecting public health,” said Scott Thompson, executive director of Oklahoma’s Department of Environmental Quality.

As part of the EPA’s investigation, officials said its staff discovered Macy’s stores in Oklahoma and Texas had violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the federal law that regulates hazardous and solid wastes, for several periods during 2012-15.

During those times, each Macy’s store identified in the settlement generated thousands of pounds of hazardous waste, but failed to notify federal and state authorities.

Overall, Macy’s generated more than 269,168 pounds of hazardous waste from 2012-15 from the involved locations in Oklahoma and Texas, officials said.

In addition to paying the fine, Macy’s also must train its retailers in Oklahoma and Texas on how to properly report and dispose of hazardous materials.

Also, it must conduct third-party audits at 11 of its largest facilities within Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico and share those results with its retailers across the nation.

It also must provide managers at those retail locations with videos of the Oklahoma-Texas training sessions, plus instructions on how to review their hazardous waste disposal procedures.

It has a year to complete those actions, regulators said.