Walmart agreed to pay $147,200 toward a Supplemental Environmental Project.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today announced a $409,000 settlement with Walmart, Inc. of Arkansas, for selling private label “hair finishing spray” that violated state air quality regulations. The product was manufactured by Canada-based Apollo Health and Beauty Care, Inc., specifically for Walmart.
The fine results from a 2018 investigation when CARB inspectors tested the hair products and found that they did not comply with state limits for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the Hair Finishing Spray category. In addition to paying the fine, Walmart plans to provide an educational platform for its online marketplace sellers to bring awareness to CARB’s consumer products regulations.
These VOCs react in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone, an extremely harmful component of smog. Walmart pulled all cans immediately from California store shelves and was cooperative with the investigation. The affected cans were from the “Equate” brand line and included the Firm, Mega Firm, and Extra Firm Hold Hair Spray.
“The cumulative impact of thousands of cans of non-compliant hair spray and other comparable products adds tons of pollutants to our environment each day that contribute to air pollution including ozone,” said CARB Chief Executive Officer Richard W. Corey. “We work diligently to find and test these items to protect our air quality in our efforts to ensure all Californians have clean air to breathe. Walmart acted quickly to address the products that exceeded the legal standards and has assured us they will not work with the manufacturer again until all problems are corrected.”
Walmart agreed to pay a civil penalty of $261,800 to the Air Pollution Control Fund, and $147,200 toward a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP). The SEP is the Side Street Projects – Woodworking Bus, a unique program that teaches basic wood-working skills, tool-based design and fabrication in school buses and trailers modified to be mobile woodshop classrooms. The program serves more than 3,000 elementary school students, many from low-income families, in Los Angeles County, focusing on students in the Pasadena Unified School District.
“Side Street Projects will replace diesel-powered buses customized to be woodworking classrooms with new propane-powered buses that go above and beyond current CARB regulations,” said California Air Resources Board Member Hector De La Torre. “Their goal is to ensure a safer, cleaner learning environment for children and reduce toxic diesel emissions, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Supporting the instructional program while eliminating dirty diesel buses is a potent combination for our schools, and in line with CARB’s mandate to improve air quality.”
The Woodworking Bus Program was developed in response to shop classes being removed from public schools. Side Street Projects has completed multiple capital projects and built woodworking buses since 1997. They currently have two buses and two trailers that deliver the woodworking curriculum.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
CARB Fines Walmart for Selling Harmful Hair Spray
Walmart agreed to pay $147,200 toward a Supplemental Environmental Project.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today announced a $409,000 settlement with Walmart, Inc. of Arkansas, for selling private label “hair finishing spray” that violated state air quality regulations. The product was manufactured by Canada-based Apollo Health and Beauty Care, Inc., specifically for Walmart.
The fine results from a 2018 investigation when CARB inspectors tested the hair products and found that they did not comply with state limits for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the Hair Finishing Spray category. In addition to paying the fine, Walmart plans to provide an educational platform for its online marketplace sellers to bring awareness to CARB’s consumer products regulations.
These VOCs react in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone, an extremely harmful component of smog. Walmart pulled all cans immediately from California store shelves and was cooperative with the investigation. The affected cans were from the “Equate” brand line and included the Firm, Mega Firm, and Extra Firm Hold Hair Spray.
“The cumulative impact of thousands of cans of non-compliant hair spray and other comparable products adds tons of pollutants to our environment each day that contribute to air pollution including ozone,” said CARB Chief Executive Officer Richard W. Corey. “We work diligently to find and test these items to protect our air quality in our efforts to ensure all Californians have clean air to breathe. Walmart acted quickly to address the products that exceeded the legal standards and has assured us they will not work with the manufacturer again until all problems are corrected.”
Walmart agreed to pay a civil penalty of $261,800 to the Air Pollution Control Fund, and $147,200 toward a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP). The SEP is the Side Street Projects – Woodworking Bus, a unique program that teaches basic wood-working skills, tool-based design and fabrication in school buses and trailers modified to be mobile woodshop classrooms. The program serves more than 3,000 elementary school students, many from low-income families, in Los Angeles County, focusing on students in the Pasadena Unified School District.
“Side Street Projects will replace diesel-powered buses customized to be woodworking classrooms with new propane-powered buses that go above and beyond current CARB regulations,” said California Air Resources Board Member Hector De La Torre. “Their goal is to ensure a safer, cleaner learning environment for children and reduce toxic diesel emissions, especially in low-income neighborhoods. Supporting the instructional program while eliminating dirty diesel buses is a potent combination for our schools, and in line with CARB’s mandate to improve air quality.”
The Woodworking Bus Program was developed in response to shop classes being removed from public schools. Side Street Projects has completed multiple capital projects and built woodworking buses since 1997. They currently have two buses and two trailers that deliver the woodworking curriculum.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.