'Outrageous': Shredding of face shields at California recycling center raises serious questions 

I'm disgusted by this. I just do NOT understand how this happens. What a waste of our tax dollars just being shredded away.

When it comes to the "Federal Government", you'll never get a straight answer, if one at all...

"I'm a covid survivor" said the guy that they interviewed... At this point everyone on Earth are covid survivors.

I can explain exactly how this happened. They signed a contract to produce or acquire the face masks, said contract didn't say anything about proper storage or use so the company got paid, set them outside, then said "Sorry, they are ruined, have to destroy them". US companies do this all the time, because US citizens are too lazy to pay attention. AT&T was paid around $1 billion in the 90s to lay fiber optic cable, once it was done they decided not to use it because there was no requirement to use it and turning it on wouldn't improve their profit margins at all. By the time we started pushing for more broadband access, we then had to pay to have new fiber optic lines run again in most areas.

Somebody is lying and they need to be held accountable.

People need to be held accountable and go to jail. Including government officials.

This is some of the most honest journalism I’ve seen in the U.S.. Not activism and not biased

This is the kind of investigative attention we need from news sources. I don’t need the news to give me their opinion that someone is lying. It’s obvious from the reporting. Thank you, Dan and Dan.

Big respect to those that are keeping an eye on this. I can’t believe they had a hard time giving away free stuff. People will take anything if it’s free.

All the ppe is just for show. Someone or some people are definitely pocketing the money.

They'll get a tax write-off for destroying unsold merchandise. The tax code in incentivizes waste.

What's really amazing is that ABC produced this. They drink the cool-aid each and every day.

So...they are saying NO ONE IN THE COUNTRY IS BUYING ONE MORE FACE SHIELD. Incredible.

I’m so disgusted. I use face shield for embalming at funeral homes, and I have to reuse my PPE because its difficult and expensive to purchase. My face shield is months old. To see these face shields being destroyed hurts me because I could use it! Donate it to funeral homes please!

Why don't they check into who is making the money through all the sales of this product?

This is shameful at a level that is criminal . There are countries who would of loved to get these supplies but they would rather destroy then save .

Someone is making money from this waste and the rest of us are paying for it.

"we put a great deal of effort to find a place where they can be used." I guess they would rather destroy critical PPE instead of just giving it out to the homeless or shelters. This is disgusting.

Dan's the man. He is like a private investigator the way he follows the lead & gets the news. We love you Dan, keep showing us the real news! 👏

Looks like the PPE is going exactly where it should be going IT WILL work just as well in the dump as on our faces.

They don’t give you federal money to buy new things when you have old ones that are perfectly good laying aroundAnd you can only get your kickback when you buy new items

I was working at the V.A. Hospital in Houston and saw a 30ft dumpster that was filled to the top with brand new wheel chairs. When In asked why they were throwing them away they said that they had to spend the budget each year or they wouldn't get as much the next year.... They throw away money so they can spend more. Made me mad bc I knew someone that needed a wheel chair at the moment but couldn't afford one

Actual investigative journalism?! I didn't know that still existed. Kudos. Expose all these bums

If it weren’t for those meddling kids and their dog, I’d have never known.

And to think at the beginning of the pandemic some people had the nerve to mark up the price of the masks, and how indignant to see them sitting there under the rain going to waste and getting shredded like that... It's utterly infuriating. 😡

Now this is the real journalism everyone has been waiting for! Keep up the good work! Thank you!

This is what happens when the government is too big. Too many people making too many decisions that too many people forgot to follow up with. After being on several committees at my kid's schools, I decided to chair one. Our first meeting, no one showed up except one other mom. We planned the entire Spring Festival in 30 minutes! Contacted all the other volunteers with their assignments, and we didn't have any problems that year. Too many people in on the decision making and it never goes well. This is precisely why we need to cut back on government, not continue to expand it. Nothing is nearly as difficult as the government wants us to think it is. Simply! Delagate! If a government official can't make a decision without 65 people around them, replace them with someone who can. If a state can't report to the government the progress, or lack thereof, replace them with someone who can. Only vote for people you trust to get the job done efficiently. Cut these outrages government salaries, and make sure that the 95% of government officials are now living among the rest of us. It's that simple!

We need billions more for PPE!! What a corrupt government!!

That’s ridiculous. I was just expressing my shock to my husband 2 weeks ago that the dental assistant in the dental office we visited was trying to find a face shield for herself and has a hard time finding one… I don’t believe that PPE company tried very hard if at all to find takers for those. Wasteful.

Government award contracts for PPE to their buddies. They then order hundreds of millions of dollars worth of PPE from companies they have shares in. The PPE was never intended to be used. It was always about the dollars.

I'm a COVID survivor! LOL yeah so are 99.8% of everyone that catches it.

They were paid for tho', right? So long as ICU got paid, no harm no foul. Taxpayer's money is infinite.

How many more wild stories like this, the stolen packages at the train station, people leaving their car doors open so no one smashes their window, the massive theft in businesses before people wake up and kick every politician in California out?

Their Narrative, "Be always afraid!" "Give us more power/control of your life". Is crumbling. The people are waking up... Even in California.

Jeez the news from California just gets better every week. From looted trains to government waste.

Some time ago there were full pallets of un opened boxes of new ventilators that were disposed of in the Dade County landfill in Florida ,& Trump pushed hard to get these 😡

This reporter guy is good.

Like California road sign says..." Your tax dollars hard at work!"

This reminds me of that storm that ravaged Puerto Rico in 2018 wherein the San Juan mayor was all over world news blaming President Trump for no federal aid coming in and saying that “people were dying” because of President Trump. She blamed nearly 3,000 deaths from that hurricane on the President. Later it was almost totally unreported that there were several docks and parking lots literally filled with federal aid supplies that was rotting on the docks and parking lots. Never used. She was lying the entire time. It was the puerto rican truckers union being on strike because the union was demanded more money to move the cargo to where it needed to go. The mayors and the Governor had flat out rejected the truckers demands and they refused to do any driving so all that federal aid supplies was just rotting on the docks and parking lots. The money was needed for her graft and greed more than the people. She and the Governor are democrats of course.

Reporting the news! We need to know what is happening and we trust you to give us the facts. We, then, make a conclusion or opinion. Thank you! Love and blessings from Minnesota!

This also sends a very bad message by forcing mandates then trashing the very thing they will punish for if you don't have.

Glad to see people are finally waking up. I can say from the first time our company put in a bid on one of these contracts we learned what the scam was all about. Follow the money. It has nothing to do with protecting the public and all about lining politician's pockets and kickbacks to their benefactors.

The company didn't try very hard to donate. I bet they will file it as a 'loss' and get more money back than donating.

What was the point of ordering all that ppe and then let it sit outside? Why not send it to all hospitals? How wasteful!!!

"Put in a great deal of effort to find a place they(the PPE) could be used." If they put in the same amount of effort getting the PPE where it belonged in the first place, VS lying and trying to cover things up, imagine how many people they could have helped. All I have to say is, "follow the money".

There is a section here that states they searched hard for places to donate these shields to, and could not find any. I contacted 6 hospitals, and 12 outreach centers, (that help with the impoverished and homeless), they stated they would have been happy and thankful to receive these face shields to give out to people. These are peoples tax dollars at work, being destroyed, and the lies companies tell.

Reminds me of when the hurricane hit Puerto Rico and they claimed they had no supplies. They never needed them. It was just politically adventagous to claim they didn’t have what they needed.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a faceshield just... spit the germs out backwards? It doesn't appear very protective and it's quite bulky...

Absolutely disgusting. Corruption everywhere. So if they can't sell it, they prefer to throw it away. That says a lot. No concern at all towards citizens.

80% of it was in plastic still packaged. Crazy what stupidity is capable of.

Good reporting! 👍 we need more news groups like you!

Despite this pandemic, I am glad 2022 may give a little more shred of good journalism. This country deserves it more than ever!

Trying to create a shortage to instill panic

Imagine there are workers at machines right now that check every single PPE item for defects and ensure those machines are working 24-7. They take pride in their work, some even like their job, others just want the money. Now imagine they see this: someone ordered these items and paid for them, but it's apparently not worth to actually use them. Would you continue doing your job? Would you still check every single item for defects? This isn't about waste anymore, it's about people who don't care.

Whoever was in charge of that PPE should be fired, but this is CA and no one gets fired in the government…

Government competency at its finest

Continue to trust our government "officials" everyone. Don't question anything. The public is in good hands.

We wonder why "our" prices are so high on health care

So the tax dollars were spent for nothing. It's California, this is not the exception this is the rule.

who else remembers the days of investigative journalism.. YES BRING IT BACK

"Looked for somewhere to donate them and failed" THERES 50 STATES IN AMERICA AND THOUSANDS OF CITIES EVEN IF YOU EXHAUSTED THAT MANY OUTLETS PUT THEM INTO THE FEDERAL RESERVE FOR MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

Who is supposed to be in charge of auditing these companies? Were these ppe already purchased using tax dollars before being discarded? Or is this icu company just throwing their own money away?

It’s the waste that gets me. And the man power and materials and money needed to make all that stuff.

Disgusting !! Are we still voting for them next term? All families who lost their loves ones while working at the medical field should sue all these officials. Let them pay the price.

I've known people who successfully ran surplus stores and they would search hard for stuff like this to liquidate out to the public. What a waste.

LOL, This is just a tiny tip of the iceberg for the amount of government waste. You don't get to $29 trillion in debt without a lack of accountability. It is nice to see a little investigative journalism on waste for once. Kudos Dan Noyes!

excellent civilian reporting, and exceptional response Bea Gonzales!

they're shredding because theres no buyers; they aint giving away for free. its the same as dumping all those idaho potatoes and dumping of flowers in France

Remember that there's never any money in the cure, only the disease.

Misallocated government funds. This is the type of stuff hysteria leads to.

If the government made that decision, then the question should be asked if that person is an elected official (public servant) or an appointed official (that was appointed by a public servant). Vote those people out.

Thank you for doing this investigation! I hope you have security guards!

Many of that important ppe could be reused by contractors that work in construction.

They rather to have them wasted rather than giving it to ppl and organization in need... I swear so many fundamentally wrong things going on in our country which needs to be addressed and accountable for

How about those tax payers dollars! Can you say in the trash with our money! I can! This is our government at it's best! USELESS!!!!!

So glad regular citizens are turning in government waste and broadcasting it!

Knowing California they'll just raise taxes to do more incompetent stuff like this.

It's California so in order to use them, they need to spend a million on a study to see if they are wet and a million to see if the tape on the box is toxic and a million to see if the water on the box is really wet or just damp... Ya know, for the environment.

Shame there are children in Chicago that could use those face shields to deflect bullet casings.

Why was the pallets of ppe equipment able to sit outside and be damaged thanks to the rain and snow to begin with? We need a deeper investigation into who allowed this and we need them to face a massive fine, jail time and community service along with no longer being able to work in any sort of government and/or managerial position.

Can we admit this whole thing is a scam? If it’s about health then why destroy the things that help.

I have a feeling this IS an attempt to create a "shortage" with PPE gear. There are LOTS of healthcare facilities who would have LOVED to have gotten those PPE gear! Shame on these companies and the GOVERNMENT!!!

This reminds me of how Barnes & Noble ripped the covers off of unsold books before they dumped them. A lot of corporations believe that it's better to destroy unsold goods rather than mark them down or donate them. This way, they keep the perceived value of said items higher. We're nowhere near the end of this pandemic, so companies want to keep on raking in the money from the duration. If they've wasted millions of dollars worth of merchandise, imagine how much more they're expecting to make with this strategic move.

In a few weeks we will have a PPE shortage! But no one will know why!

California needs to raise taxes so they can buy some more PPE for its citizens. 🤔

OMG, imagine in how many places this has happened, been happening and is happening as we speak. The federal government takes the most tax out of your paycheck too. They are just shameless.

They couldn't find a place where those PPE's could be used? Are you kidding me!? While at my hospital we are rationing our PPE. This is total bull

Embezzlement exists. Some people already pocketed the excess funds.

The well-connected friends of the regime who manufactured them already got paid, so that's all that matters.

My wife works for the school district which gives her and her peers NOTHING for PPE.... pisses me off that not even the school's accepted the face shields. Completely unacceptable

Nancy, Nancy, Nancy. What have you done? I bet ya'all got paid first.

Didn't Newsom over pay for those?

I smell a rat. In fact a whole ton of it. Dan, great job, I hope you get to the bottom of this because some folks obviously is well aware of what is going on and may be a cash cow for them. They need to be held accountable and be removed from office and thrown in jail. This is an outright outrage!

This terrifying event was preceded by the statement, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

@ABC7News Wow, unbelievable that this is even conceivable. Please do an investigation into wasting food 👍. ..Is it as bad as it used to be? Years ago we did a fundraiser at a local and famous donut place for my aunt to have a kidney transplant. They were throwing away dozens and dozens of donuts IN THE BOXES just because they had sat a few minutes too long (they were still WARM!🤦🏽‍♂️) but would not allow any to be sold for the fundraiser.... BEFORE taking them out of the store...to the dumpster👀

The owner of that company should pay back every last penny he was rewarded to make this product

Yet people still trust the gov’t when dealing with Covid… Btw this is real journalism!

There’s lots of places that can use this. Omg! Because it’s doesn’t generate money they’d rather throw it out.

This so terrible because this was the start of inflation all the PPE was overpriced in the beginning of the pandemic and now to see all the PPE just be shredded where is the Inflation. This is a big scam here in America.

This is a very common outcome of "government oversight". The bureaucracy demands that its minions and inspectors fit the product/targeted inspection site to the regulations absolutely to the letter, no matter how illogical/wasteful the outcome.