Walmart Left Explosive Fertilizer and Toxic Pesticides in Its Parking Lots for Kids to Play In

It's common knowledge that Walmart is a terrible place to work. But it's a pretty terrible place to shop, too. And not just because the bargain-priced goods that line its shelves were made in exploitation hell-pits in China. It turns out that Walmarts across the country have a habit of forcing its customers to hurdle hazardous waste en route to the half-priced tightie whities and moldy produce inside its cavernous walls.

The retail giant has just agreed to pay upwards of $80 million in fines for improperly disposing of hazardous fertilizers, bleach, and pesticides at locations in California and Missouri. Reuters reports that Walmart said it "would pay nearly $81.63 million to the federal government as it pleaded guilty to charges that it improperly discarded hazardous waste such as bleach and fertilizer years ago."

It turns out that Walmart was in the habit of just tossing toxic and hazardous materials like ammonium sulfate into trash bins right outside those ever-mobile automatic doors. If the trash piled up, so did the hazardous waste. If the inorganic salt ammonium sulfate sounds familiar to you, that might be because it's the same ingredient in fertilizer that just caused a massive, lethal explosion at a Texas factory. The stuff is super flammable, and can be used to make explosives.

With a detonator and some fuel oil, ammonium sulfate can be turned into bombs. There's a reason the military had to stop using the stuff in Afghanistan. But Walmart thought it was fine to let it sit out on the sidewalk, where kids could play in it. Here's Reuters again:

"In one instance, according to an earlier court filing, investigators in April 2002 observed 'piles of multicolored unknown fertilizer type substances and torn sacks of ammonium sulfate' at one of the company's stores in California, after learning a child had been playing on a pile of 'yellowish colored powder' near the store's garden department."

That's cool. Walmart was turning the super-explosive fertilizer into a McDonald's ball pit for its customers' kids. Charming, really. Did I mention that ammonium sulfate can be fatal if ingested? Oh yeah, it can.

This is why, for upholding its reputation as the worst company this side of Ticketmaster, Walmart had to pay $40 million to the state of California. And that was just for the sulfate fiasco. The biohazard-loving retailer "also pleaded guilty in Kansas City, Missouri to violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) by failing to properly handle pesticides that had been returned by customers, the Justice Department said in a statement."

That's right, Walmart did the same thing in Missouri, only with insecticides. Is Walmart actively trying to kill its customers? Time will tell. Stay frosty, bargain-hunters—if you see a line of lit gasoline out front of your local branch, or maybe clusters of used needles, it's probably best to stay away. Hell, it's probably best to stay away anyways.