Apple will pay the state of California $450,000 to settle claims that it improperly handled industrial waste at facilities the company ran in Silicon Valley.
Apple said the violations relate to reporting and tracking mistakes, claiming that health and safety standards at its waste facilities exceed the state’s requirements.
“We’ve worked closely with (the Department of Toxic Substances Control) to ensure that going forward we have the proper permits for our current site,” Apple spokeswoman Alisha Johnson said in an email to Reuters.
Apple has also agreed to open facilities in Cupertino and Sunnyvale to regulators for additional inspections as part of the settlement.
The state Environmental Protection Agency claims Apple opened and operated an electronic waste shredding facility in Cupertino in 2011 without filing notice. Regulators also say Apple mishandled metal dust from the facility, which processed more than 1 million pounds of waste by the time it closed in 2013.
Apple then opened another site in Sunnyvale and processed more than half a million pounds of waste before notifying the state, according to the complaint. Regulators also said Apple sent metal dust to a disposal site not authorized to handle toxic waste and also failed to mark oil containers containing hazardous waste.
Source: Reuters
