Allegations that Tesla mishandled hazardous waste point to a systemic failure at the company’s California facilities. This was no simple accident or one-off event.
Technology
How bad is Tesla’s hazardous waste problem in California?
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11423503/acastro_180524_1777_tesla_0001.jpg?ssl=1 "How bad is Tesla’s hazardous waste problem in California?")
No less than 25 counties sued Tesla this week for allegedly illegally disposing of hazardous waste. Within a couple days, the Elon Musk-led company agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle the suit that says the company “intentionally” and “negligently” disposed of materials that should have been handled with care.
Waste management experts tell The Verge that a large company like Tesla should have known better. On top of the trouble it’s facing in California, the company might even have run afoul of federal regulations for handling hazardous waste.
“That’s pretty egregious in my book.”
The California counties accuse Tesla of violating state health and safety codes by disposing or “caus[ing] the disposal of” hazardous waste at places that aren’t actually authorized to accept the materials. The suit alleges that the company tossed some of it in dumpsters or compactors; the waste could then wind up in a landfill not permitted to take in hazardous substances. It also says Tesla “failed to determine” if waste generated at its facilities was hazardous, “failed to properly mark, label, and store” hazardous waste at its facilities, and didn’t comply with record-keeping requirements or properly train employees on how to handle the materials.
“That’s pretty egregious in my book,” says Christopher Kohler, an adjunct instructor at Indiana University who is an expert on hazardous waste, environmental remediation, and chemical hygiene. “These rules and regulations have been around for gosh… almost 50 years, and they should know better by now.”
The complaint names 101 facilities across California that generated hazardous waste including: used lubricating oils, brake fluids, lead acid batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, waste solvents, paint, e-waste, and other “contaminated debris.”
These are pretty common types of waste, according to Kohler. Nevertheless, their disposal is regulated because of the risks these substances can pose when mishandled. Lead and chlorinated solvents are toxic, oils are flammable, and acids are corrosive, Kohler points out.
Investigators with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office started “undercover inspections” of trash containers at Tesla’s car service centers in 2018. They found “the illegal disposal of numerous used hazardous automotive components (i.e., lubricating oils, brake cleaners, lead acid and other batteries, aerosols, antifreeze, waste solvents and other cleaners, electronic waste, waste paint, and debris contaminated with the above),” according to the DA’s office. After that, investigators from other counties also started rifling through Tesla’s trash and found similar “unlawful disposals.” At Tesla’s Fremont factory, investigators also found welding spatter waste, waste paint mix cups, and wipes / debris contaminated with primer unlawfully chucked into the trash.
Lead and chlorinated solvents are toxic, oils are flammable, and acids are corrosive
“I have no idea of the motives or reason for the incorrect disposal. It would seem like a breakdown in a hazardous waste management plan,” Treavor Boyer, environmental engineering program chair at Arizona State University, writes to The Verge in an email.
Big companies typically have a waste professional on hand to determine how to handle these kinds of substances at their facilities, Kohler tells The Verge. He says it seems like Tesla lacked this and neglected to put proper company policies and procedures in place at its service centers.
Take lead acid batteries from motor vehicles, for instance, made up of primarily — you guessed it — lead and acid. It’s illegal in most states to dump them in the trash. They might corrode and release lead, which can escape a landfill and go on to pollute the surrounding environment and even drinking water sources, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Leaking batteries can also pose risks to workers at landfills, incinerators, and transfer stations. Incinerating the batteries might even release lead into the air. Lead is a known neurotoxin that’s especially dangerous to children.
Lead acid batteries in particular are supposed to be recycled, and the lead can be reused in new batteries. Other materials might need to be sent to a hazardous waste landfill that has double the plastic lining in place as a typical sanitary landfill in order to protect groundwater from anything that might otherwise leach into it. Moreover, materials need to be treated and show characteristics of being “non-hazardous” before they can even head to a hazardous waste landfill. It takes extra work to make these kinds of arrangements, which can be more expensive than handling less risky refuse.
When it comes to Tesla’s handling of these kinds of materials in California, “The situation seems to be a violation of RCRA [short for the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act] which is the federal regulation for managing hazardous waste,” Boyer writes. However, California mandates are more stringent than federal waste regulation.
The Verge reached out to the EPA to ask whether it is investigating Tesla for violating the law and, if so, whether the company might face any federal penalties. A spokesperson for the EPA said in an email that, “Due to ongoing litigation, EPA cannot comment on this case.”
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Verge; it didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing on its part in the settlement.
The settlement includes a five-year injunction during which Tesla will have to comply with measures including annual third-party waste audits and mandatory training for employees. The San Francisco DA’s office says Tesla “cooperated” with its investigation and “took steps to improve its compliance with the environmental protection laws brought to its attention by the prosecutors. After Tesla was notified of the issues, they began quarantining and screening trash containers for hazardous waste at all of its service centers before trash was brought to the landfill.”
Other automakers have terrible track records with hazardous waste
In 2022, Tesla agreed to pay $275,000 in a settlement with the EPA over violations of the Clean Air Act at its Fremont factory. Tesla also had to pay a $31,000 penalty as part of a settlement with the agency in 2019 for storing hazardous waste at its Fremont factory without a required permit.
The EPA also found that Tesla didn’t maintain enough aisle space for the safe movement of personnel through the main area where it stored hazardous waste, and violated air emission standards for three leaking transmission lines. It also spotted two open 55-gallon containers of hazardous waste with “no gasket or locking mechanism,” and that the company failed to “promptly clean up” flammable paint and solvent mixtures that leaked from transmission lines or pumps.
Other automakers have terrible track records with hazardous waste. GM agreed to pay a $773 million settlement in 2010 with the US, 14 states, and the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe over “environmental liabilities” including hazardous waste at its properties. In 2022, New Jersey sued Ford for dumping toxic paint sludge and contaminating “hundreds of acres of soil, water, wetlands” and state-recognized tribal lands of the Ramapough Lenape Nation.
“Today’s settlement against Tesla, Inc. serves to provide a cleaner environment for citizens throughout the state by preventing the contamination of our precious natural resources when hazardous waste is mismanaged and unlawfully disposed,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a Thursday press release.
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Android 17 is getting a dedicated gaming mode for foldables that will put a virtual gamepad with touch controls on half of your screen to theoretically make it easier to play games.
With foldable gaming mode, which is set to launch in the coming months, the virtual controller emulates physical button presses at a system level and is designed to work “with any game that supports physical controllers,” says Google’s Mishaal Rahman on Reddit. For the actual inputs, the virtual controller will have a D-pad; left and right virtual sticks; A, B, X, and Y buttons; L1, L2, L3; R1, R2, and R3; and a start button. And you’ll be able to configure the gamepad in several ways, such as keeping the virtual joysticks inline or staggered from each other, scaling the size of the buttons, and toggling haptics on or off.
Turning on the mode “is as simple as unfolding your device, either before or after launching a compatible game,” Rahman says. You can also choose to hide the gamepad, and if you connect a physical controller, the virtual gamepad will turn off on its own.
“Android allows you to play a wide variety of games on the go,” says Rahman. “While touch controls work incredibly well for many titles, certain games are better enjoyed with physical gamepads. The problem is that carrying a Bluetooth controller or a snap-on gamepad with you everywhere isn’t always convenient. We want to bridge that gap, and we’re addressing it with a new feature in the Android 17 platform release that’s specifically tailored for foldable devices.”
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A letter arrives about a debt you don’t remember, from a company you’ve never dealt with, for an account you never opened. For a growing number of people, that notice is how they first learn someone used their identity.
Complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about attempts to collect a debt not owed rose about 115% above their prior two-year average in 2025, and many of those consumers reported balances they didn’t recognize and suspected identity theft.
Before you panic or pay, it helps to understand why these letters show up and what rights you have.
WHY LAST YEAR’S BREACH IS THIS YEAR’S IDENTITY FRAUD
A collection letter for a debt you do not recognize can be the first sign that someone used your identity. (John Carl D’Annibale /Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
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Why debt collectors contact you about a debt you do not owe
When a charged-off account is sold to a collection agency, the agency receives the original creditor’s application file, including whatever identifiers were used to open it. That contact information is often 90 to 180 days out of date by the time the account changes hands.
HOW SCAMMERS BUILD A PROFILE ON YOU USING DATA BROKERS
Before the first call, the agency runs skip tracing: matching a name, Social Security number (SSN) and past addresses against public records, postal change-of-address data, property and utility records and data-broker files to find the current person behind the account. At bulk volume, each lookup costs the agency pennies.
The agency then contacts you directly, by phone or mail, whether or not you have looked at your credit file.
How fake debt can start with identity theft
The account behind the notice may have been opened with your information pulled from breaches and resold, then approved by an automated check that matched the data to an existing file without confirming that the applicant was you. Opening a new account is the leading form of attempted identity misuse reported to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), which counted it more often than takeovers of accounts people already held. What happens after is less understood.
10 SIGNS YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS BEING SOLD ONLINE
Charged-off debts, including fraudulent ones, are sold in bulk portfolios for pennies on the dollar, often with thin supporting paperwork. One fraudulent balance can be sold and resold across several agencies. A debt you dispute and clear with one collector can be repackaged and reappear with another months later.
With medical debt, a bill can sometimes move toward collections before you see every explanation of benefits, insurance update or corrected statement. That is why you should contact the provider and your insurer before paying a collector.
What debt collectors legally have to tell you
Federal law gives you a defined response, and the clock starts at first contact. Under the CFPB’s Regulation F, a collector must send a validation notice describing the debt and your rights in, or within five days of, its first communication with you.
5 MYTHS ABOUT IDENTITY THEFT THAT PUT YOUR DATA AT RISK
You have 30 days from receiving that notice to dispute the debt in writing under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Dispute inside that window, and the collector must stop collecting until it verifies the debt.
One important note: the FDCPA generally covers third-party debt collectors, not every original creditor. However, credit reporting laws, identity theft protections and state laws may still give you rights.
If the debt came from identity theft, send the collector an FTC Identity Theft Report from IdentityTheft.gov. Also, tell the collector in writing that you dispute the debt, that it resulted from identity theft and that you want it to stop reporting the account to the credit bureaus.
IS YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER AT RISK? SIGNS SOMEONE MIGHT BE STEALING IT
Ask Equifax, Experian and TransUnion for a block under Section 605B of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
With a valid identity theft report and proof of your identity, the bureaus must block the fraudulent item within four business days. A block is harder to reverse than an ordinary dispute, which counts when the same debt can be resold.
The CFPB has said it may expand the meaning of identity theft under Regulation V to cover “coerced debt,” money run up in someone’s name without their consent, including in domestic and elder abuse cases.
What to do before you pay a debt collector
Before you send money or confirm any personal details, slow down and make the collector prove the debt belongs to you.
1) Ask for proof in writing
Do not pay, promise to pay or give out more personal information during the first call. Ask for the validation notice in writing and save every letter, voicemail and call log. Then send a written dispute within 30 days.
Fake debts can start with stolen personal information and then move from one collection agency to another. (PixelsEffect/Getty Images)
2) File an identity theft report if the debt looks fake
If you believe identity theft caused the account, create an FTC Identity Theft Report at IdentityTheft.gov. Send copies to the collector, the original creditor and all three credit bureaus. Also, place a fraud alert or credit freeze with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, so it becomes harder for someone to open another account in your name.
3) Check medical bills before paying a collector
With medical debt, contact the provider and your insurer before paying a collector. Ask for an itemized bill and an explanation of benefits. A medical bill can end up in collections while paperwork, insurance reviews or billing disputes are still catching up.
4) Respond quickly if a collector sues you
If a collector sues you, do not ignore the papers. Respond by the court deadline or contact a consumer law attorney or legal aid group. Even a debt you do not owe can create bigger problems if you miss a court deadline.
Why early fraud alerts can save you money
Once a fraudulent account charges off and sells, cleanup gets harder. You may need to dispute the debt with the collector, the original lender and all three credit bureaus. If someone resells the debt, the same problem can come back months later.
YOU HAVE A CREDIT FREEZE. IT STILL ISN’T ENOUGH
Credit monitoring can help you spot a new account or hard inquiry before the debt reaches collections. That gives you time to contact the lender, dispute the account and freeze your credit sooner.
No service can prevent every account opened in your name. However, three-bureau credit monitoring can alert you when lenders report new accounts or hard inquiries. That can help you act before a collections notice arrives or a lender denies you credit.
See my tips and best picks on Best Identity Theft Protection at CyberGuy.com.
Kurt’s key takeaways
A collection letter for an unfamiliar debt deserves a closer look. It may mean someone opened an account in your name. Do not pay just to stop the calls. Ask for written validation and dispute the debt fast. If someone misused your information, file an FTC Identity Theft Report. Then freeze your credit and check all three credit reports. Early alerts can help you catch fraud before collections begin. That can save you money, time and stress.
Have you ever gotten a collection letter or call for a debt you knew you did not owe, and what did you do first? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
Before paying a collector, ask for written proof, dispute the debt and file an FTC Identity Theft Report if fraud is involved. (Daniel de la Hoz/Getty Images)
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