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RHODE ISLAND PLASTICS PLANT TO PAY ENVIRONMENTAL FINE

Release Date: 10/03/1996
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Press Office, (617) 918-1064

Boston - Resulting from an enforcement case brought against it by the New England office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Teknor Apex of Pawtucket, Rhode Island will reduce toxic emissions and make other environmental improvements expected to cost the facility $300,000. The company will also a pay a fine of $52,950 for violations of reporting requirements of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Teknor Apex manufactures organic plasticizers, vinyl resins, garden hose, plastic sheeting, and color pigments. The company employs approximately 1500 people in the United States.

According to EPA, the company failed to fully and accurately report the types and quantities of chemicals manufactured at two of its facilities: Attleboro, Massachusetts and Brownsville, Tennessee.

"Failing to provide information about chemicals manufactured by industry guts government efforts to manage toxics in our environment," said John P. DeVillars, administrator for EPA's New England office . "Teknor Apex, facing federal non-reporting fines, devised a pollution reducing and water conserving process to be instituted at its Attleboro plant. Often when companies are confronted with what appears to be a management problem, ingenious solutions result that offer better environmental results than simply paying a fine."

As part of its pollution reduction plant, Teknor Apex will install a vent box to recover tank emissions, and install several new technologies to improve the quality of waste water discharges to the plant's waste water treatment plant, ultimately improving the quality of water discharging to the publicly-owned water treatment plant.