The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA).
DTSC was established to protect California against threats to public health and degradation to the environment and to restore properties degraded by past environmental contamination. Through statutory mandates, DTSC cleans up existing contamination, regulates management of hazardous wastes, and prevents pollution by working with businesses to reduce their hazardous waste and use of toxic materials.
To achieve its mandates, DTSC has over 1,000 positions which include attorneys, chemists, criminal investigators, engineers, geologists, scientists, toxicologists, and administrative staff. Staff work out of two environmental chemistry laboratories located in Berkeley and Pasadena or one of the eight offices located in Sacramento (two offices: headquarters and a field office), Berkeley, Chatsworth, Clovis, Commerce, Cypress, El Centro and San Diego.
The mission of DTSC is to protect California’s people and environment from harmful effects of toxic substances by restoring contaminated resources, enforcing hazardous waste laws, reducing hazardous waste generation, and encouraging the manufacture of chemically safer products.
