People v. Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc., Ventura County Superior Court
Bed Bath & Beyond to Pay $1.49 Million in Settlement of Environmental Violations | Joint Prosecution by 31 California Prosecutors
District Attorney Joyce E. Dudley announced today that the Ventura County Superior Court has ordered New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (“Bed Bath & Beyond”) to pay $1,498,750 as part of a settlement of a civil environmental prosecution. The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit collaborated with 30 other California District Attorneys and the Los Angeles City Attorney to achieve this result.
The judgment is the culmination of a multijurisdictional civil enforcement lawsuit filed last month in Ventura County Superior Court alleging that more than 200 Bed Bath & Beyond stores throughout California (including Cost Plus, buybuy BABY, Harmon, Harmon Face Values, World Market, and Cost Plus World Market stores) unlawfully handled, transported, and disposed of batteries, electronic devices, ignitable liquids, aerosol products, cleaning agents, and other flammable, reactive, toxic, and corrosive materials, at local landfills that were not permitted to receive such wastes.
The investigation was initiated by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit (VCDAO CEPU) after a fire broke out in December 2015 at the City of Oxnard’s Del Norte Transfer Facility. The fire was caused by a load of store waste from the trash compactor of the Oxnard Bed Bath & Beyond store. The bagged store waste suddenly burst into flames when a city employee used a front-end loader to spread the freshly dumped trash pile. A subsequent investigation by the VCDAO CEPU led to the recovery of numerous items of regulated waste, including several electronic items and hazardous waste, lithium batteries, and a small can of lighter fluid.
