Pest Companies Settle Environmental Protection Case for Pesticide, Hazardous Waste, and Customer Privacy Law Violations for $3,150,000

Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez, along with the District Attorneys of San Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, and Ventura Counties, announced today the settlement of an environmental protection lawsuit against Clark Pest Control of Stockton (Clark), Orkin Services of California (Orkin), and Crane Pest Control (Crane) to resolve allegations that the companies violated state laws governing pesticide, hazardous waste, and customer records privacy laws, by unlawfully disposing of pesticides and hazardous wastes into company waste bins destined for municipal landfills not authorized to accept these wastes. The lawsuit also resolves allegations that the companies failed to shred customer records containing confidential information before disposing of those items into the trash. Clark, Orkin, and Crane are residential and commercial pest control service companies owned by Georgia-based Rollins, Inc., with over 70 facilities in California.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez stated, “Our Environmental and Consumer Law Division is working with other district attorney offices throughout California to ensure that businesses comply with environmental protection laws to preserve our natural resources and to ensure confidentiality of protected consumer information.”

 Under the stipulated final judgment, Clark, Orkin, and Crane will pay a total of $3,150,000, consisting of:

• $2,017,000 in civil penalties
• $400,000 in supplemental environmental compliance projects
• $333,000 in investigative costs
• $400,000 in credit for supplemental environmental compliance measures

The judgment also requires the companies to comply with a permanent injunction mandating significant            operational reforms for a period of no less than five years, including:

• Retention of a third-party auditor to conduct dumpster audits at a minimum of 10% of its facilities each year for five years.
• Report the findings of the dumpster audits to the prosecutors.
• Require that all facility employees complete a training program that ensures compliance with applicable pesticide waste and hazardous waste management and maintain proof of the training for three years.
• Devote a minimum of two thousand (2,000) hours per year for each year in which the judgment remains in effect to enhanced environmental compliance measures, including compliance reviews of waste accumulation areas, oversight of waste minimization efforts by company technicians, and oversight of enhanced hazardous waste compliance management.

The investigation was initiated in 2021. From March 2021 through February 2022, district attorney investigators throughout the state conducted a series of undercover waste inspections of 40 dumpsters originating at 22 separate Clark and Orkin facilities. The inspections uncovered thousands of unlawfully disposed of toxic, ignitable, and corrosive pesticide and hazardous waste items that were destined for transfer stations and landfills not permitted to receive those wastes. Those items included containers of pesticide liquids, powders, foams, baits, pellets, aerosol sprays, as well as batteries, e-waste, hand sanitizer, caulkings, adhesives, and facility cleaning solutions. The inspections also revealed the pest control companies had improperly managed and disposed of thousands of customer records violating California privacy laws designed to protect consumers by requiring businesses to render personal information in those records unreadable before disposal. Those records included customer service orders, contracts, invoices and route reports.

When Clark and Orkin were notified by the prosecutors of the unlawful disposals, they fully cooperated and quickly responded to enhance company policies and procedures designed to eliminate the improper management and disposal of these prohibited wastes, and to protect confidential customer information in California.

Deputy District Attorney Caroline Fowler and Deputy District Attorney Dustin Hughson were the prosecutors for the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.

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