LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Safeway Inc. has reached a settlement with 42 counties – including Lake – in a case alleging that more than 500 of its stores and distribution centers violated the state's environmental laws for handling and storing hazardous materials, including the disposal of pharmaceutical waste.

The settlement, which orders Safeway to pay $9.87 million in civil penalties, also applies to the other branded stores that the Pleasanton-based supermarket chain owns – Vons, Pavilions and Pak ‘n Save.

The final stipulated judgment was approved Jan. 2 by Judge Wynne S. Carvill in Alameda County Superior Court, where the case was filed.

According to a statement from Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley – whose office was one of the lead agencies in the case – the investigation that led to the suit began after the discovery of improper shipments of hazardous and pharmaceutical waste to Safeway’s distribution centers through its reverse logistics program.

During 2012 and 2013, inspectors from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Environmental Protection Division along with other district attorney investigators and environmental regulators statewide, conducted a series of waste inspections of dumpsters belonging to Safeway stores, case records showed.

The inspections revealed that Safeway was routinely and systematically sending hazardous wastes to local landfills, and was failing to take measures to protect the privacy of their pharmacy customers’ confidential medical information, O'Malley's office reported.

When prosecutors notified Safeway of the widespread environmental issues at its facilities, the company “worked cooperatively to remedy the issue, enhance its environmental compliance program and train its employees to properly handle such waste,” according to O'Malley's report.

Among the facilities listed in the settlement are Lake County's two Safeway stores – 14922 Olympic Drive in Clearlake and 1071 11th St. in Lakeport.

The Lake County District Attorney's Office will receive $1,750 from the settlement, while another $3,500 in civil penalties will go to the Lake County Environmental Health division, according to the stipulated judgment.

Neighboring Mendocino County, which has three Safeway stores, will receive $2,625 for the district attorney and $5,250 for its environmental health department; Napa County, also with three stores, will receive $27,000 for its district attorney and $27,000 for its department of environmental management; Sonoma County, with 12 stores, will receive $22,750 for the district attorney, $3,500 for the cities of Healdsburg and Sebastopol, $7,000 for its fire and emergency department and $8,750 for Santa Rosa City Fire; and Yolo County, with four stores, receives $375,000 for its district attorney and $35,250 for its environmental health department.

California Safeway stores have, pursuant to the final agreement, adopted new policies and procedures designed to eliminate the improper disposal of retail hazardous waste products and pharmaceutical waste into store trash bins for eventual disposal into local landfills, officials reported.

The settlement terms also require Safeway to continue its First Assistant Store Manager Program designed to address environmental compliance at the store level and conduct annual store audits. 

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.