Thousands of PPE items discarded in Hollister

By Felix Cortez

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    HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — Just days after more than $10 million worth of personal protective equipment was found outside damaged by rain at a Bay Area event center, a similar discovery was made at a Hollister business where hundreds of thousands of face shields were found outside and are now headed to the landfill, never to be used.

“That’s a shame because if it would’ve gone to someplace that really needed it, it would’ve been used in a proper fashion, it’s a downright shame,” said Antonio Rodriguez, who saw hundreds of boxes piled high.

The face shields are owned by ICU Eyewear out of Hollister. The company’s CEO, Kirk Hobbs, said the company bought millions of them 18 months ago but demand for the PPE never materialized.

“These face shields just weren’t something people really needed or wanted to use,” said Hobbs.

So they were left outside where they were damaged by the rain.

“That’s really a tragedy that, really is. I wished they’d figure something else to do with that because it doesn’t take a lot of brains to figure out what needs to be done for that rather than just leave it in the rain,” said Heather Caputo, of Hollister.

The company says 5 million of the face shields were donated to the state of California and another 1 million to Idaho. The company also tried to donate a large number to Mexico, but the CEO says the logistics just couldn’t be worked out.

But now the lifecycle of the product is nearing its end and Hobbs said, “We just don’t think it’s appropriate to give them to folks any longer.”

The discovery comes just days after KGO-TV in San Francisco uncovered a massive amount of personal protective equipment at the San Mateo county event center, with a value estimated at more than $10 million.

Taxpayers were left footing the bill in that case, but in Hollister, ICU Eyewear is a privately held company.

“I mean that’s just a big waste entirely for sure,” said Caputo.

“I thought to myself, ‘what a shame, they are losing money in their inventory’ and little did I know I was going to end up finding that it was PPE equipment that was very sought after by the medical field,” added Rodriguez.

The company CEO admitted the scene outside his company does not look good but says the company had no choice but to destroy the face shields.

Hollister didn’t like what they saw either. A code enforcement officer was sent to the company offices on Shelton Drive and gave them written notice to clear out the boxes, according to Mayor Ignacio Velazquez.

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