Walmart recently paid off the more than $7.2 million it owed to the State of California for the underreported number of containers it distributed over a three-year period.

Waste360 Staff, Staff

September 13, 2017

1 Min Read
Walmart Underpays California More Than $7.2M in Deposits
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Walmart, one of the largest global retailers, recently paid off the more than $7.2 million it owed to the State of California for the underreported number of containers it distributed over a three-year period.

The underreported number of containers was discovered during an audit that CalRecycle conducted last year. In total, the company failed to report 129.9 million California Refund Value-covered beverage containers, which totaled $7.2 million. In addition, Walmart didn’t pay processing fees, which totaled about $8,500.

Resource Recycling has more details:

The world’s largest retailer underreported the number of containers it distributed over a three-year period in California, leading to $7.2 million in unpaid deposits to the state. The balance was paid in full late last year after it was revealed during an audit.

Walmart operates more than 250 retail locations and 14 distribution centers in California. The company distributes beverage containers, meaning the company is subject to beverage distributor requirements under California’s container redemption laws.

In California’s unique deposit program, consumers pay a 5- or 10-cent surcharge on drink containers to the retailer, with the amount depending on container size. This is known as California Refund Value (CRV). The retailer passes that money to beverage distributors, and those distributors then move it on to Calrecycle.

Read the full story here.

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