Del Monte Fresh Produce fined for waste hazards in Hawaii
Advertiser Staff
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has fined Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. $190,000 for hazardous waste violations at the company's former pineapple plantation in Kunia.
EPA inspectors in August 2007 found open and unlabeled containers of hazardous waste at the facility and evidence of a release of used oil, the EPA said.
The hazardous waste consisted of pesticides, fumigant cylinders, old paint and fluorescent light bulbs, said EPA spokesman Dean Higuchi.
Del Monte Fresh Produce has since corrected the violations, according to the EPA.
Florida-based Del Monte Fresh Produce ended its pineapple growing operations in central O'ahu in November 2006 and laid off 551 employees. After shutting down, Del Monte returned the 5,100 acres in Kunia to local landowner James Campbell Co.
"Companies must properly store and handle hazardous waste to protect the community, workers and the environment," said Jeff Scott, director of Waste Programs for the EPA's Pacific Southwest region. "I am pleased that Del Monte has corrected the violations and that the facility no longer presents a potential risk to human health and the environment."
Efforts to reach Del Monte officials were unsuccessful.
Additionally, the EPA found the facility had stored containers of hazardous waste without a permit and stored hazardous waste for longer than the 90 days allowed by the EPA's rules.
The EPA said Del Monte Fresh Produce also failed to:
The fine was the second levied by the EPA against Del Monte Fresh Fruit within the past 16 months. In June 2007, the EPA fined the company $24,640 for failing to properly use registered pesticides at the Kunia plantation in 2004-'05.
