A San Jose recycling company has been ordered by a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge to pay $25,000 in civil penalties for causing dangerous fires to start in the back of garbage trucks in Campbell, California.
The company, iDiskk, LLC, its principal Yue Zou, and her husband Lei Zhang, were all held responsible for improperly throwing away lithium batteries, which burst into flames in three trucks last fall. No one was hurt in the fires. During an October 13 fire, the garbage truck lifted the bin to dump the load in the street to avoid damage to the vehicle. In doing so, the bin caught overhead utility lines causing the adjacent utility pole to break and fall to the ground.
In addition to paying civil penalties, iDiskk, LLC, Zou, and Zhang agreed to be bound by a permanent injunction never to improperly dispose of hazardous waste again.
Published in the February 2023 Edition