WA fines US Postal Service $33K for mishandling dangerous waste in Seattle

The Washington Department of Ecology fined the US Postal Service $33,000 earlier this week for improperly managing and storing packages that contained dangerous waste at the Seattle Bulk Mail Center.

The U.S. Service has already corrected the violations that “needed to be immediately addressed,” the Department of Ecology confirmed. The Postal Service has 30 days to pay the penalty or appeal to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.

“We expect businesses that generate hazardous waste to take the regulations seriously,” Christa Colouzis, Northwest Region manager for Ecology’s Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction program, said in a prepared statement. “Knowing what wastes you have and how to safely store them is the first step to preventing problems. If dangerous waste isn’t properly managed, it can quickly become a safety issue for people and the environment.”

If leaking or damaged packages contain dangerous materials such as insecticides, propane, paints, or cleaning products, the facility is required to properly identify the substances, assess the related hazards, and then safely store and dispose of the waste.

The Department of Ecology’s 2024 inspection identified violations, including the failure to promptly determine whether waste is hazardous and to identify the associated hazards, the failure to store waste safely, improper management of universal waste, and the inability to maintain personnel training records.

Inspections conducted at the Seattle Bulk Mail Center in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2024 all discovered issues with how the facility identified and stored packages containing hazardous waste.

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