SCDigest editorial staff

On Dec. 20, Wal-Mart reported in a filing with the SEC that it is being investigated for violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which in part regulates the handling of hazardous waste. The retailers handling practices are actually under criminal investigation, with both state and federal governments investigating whether it improperly used its own trucks to transport material deemed hazardous to centralized facilities, rather than using certified hazardous waste carriers to transport that material directly to designated disposal sites.

In an earlier SEC filing in October, Wal-Mart had announced it has been subpoenaed by grand juries investigating the matter. Now, Wal-Mart says it has been informed it is the target of a criminal investigation.

Wal-Mart has said it is cooperating fully with authorities, and is reviewing its waste handling policies for shipping potentially hazardous or regulated materials, but was “surprised” to learn it was the subject of the probe since it thought is was in compliance already.

The probe focuses on the handling of returned and damaged goods, including paint, aerosol cans, fertilizer and other similar substances.

In addition to providing further fuel for the anti-Wal-Mart contingent, the action just further highlights the increase attention supply chain and logistics professionals in many companies and industries will have to start paying to reverse logistics – not only because of the costs, but also not increasingly the regulatory and legal issues involved – and our feeling here is that many companies are not well prepared.

Do you expect more companies to find themselves with issues  in reverse logistics issues? Is the industry overall up to speed with laws, regulations and best practices? Let us know your thoughts.