The California Attorney General and Alameda County District Attorney sued DISH Network, alleging the company illegally landfilled scrap electronics. | Tada Images/Shutterstock
TV and wireless services provider DISH Network will pay $5.5 million to settle allegations that it illegally disposed of scrap electronics in California.
The offices of the California Attorney General and Alameda County District Attorney earlier this month announced the settlement with DISH Network California Service Corporation. Prosecutors accused the company of illegally disposing of electronic equipment and scrap metal at municipal landfills since 2005.
Electronics the company handles include remote controls, power adapters, field testing equipment and other equipment with printed circuit boards. The publicly traded Englewood, Colo.-headquartered company also handles batteries, aerosol containers and scrap items such as cable, satellite dishes, dish mounts, splitters and more.
As part of the settlement, which was approved by a judge on March 25, DISH will pay $3.32 million in civil penalties, $835,500 in litigation costs, $845,000 for supplemental environmental projects and $500,000 to implement enhanced environmental compliance measures at its California facilities, the release states.
The company also agreed to hire an independent third-party auditor to perform compliance audits at DISH’s 25 facilities in California, conduct regular inspections of trash dumpsters and roll-off containers to ensure they don’t contain hazardous waste and provide training to employees to ensure compliance with the hazardous waste laws, the release notes.
Starting in 2014, the offices of Attorney General Rob Bonta and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley have prosecuted AT&T, Comcast, DirecTV and Cox Communications for similar violations related to illegal disposal of large volumes of electronics from their cable and satellite video service, according to the press release.
A version of this story appeared in E-Scrap News on April 20.
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