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EPA Continues to Clean Up the Dry Cleaning Industry; Manhattan Facility Faces $34,250 in Penalties

Release Date: 01/05/2001
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(#00224) New York, New York -- EPA has charged Splendid Enterprises Limited, a commercial dry cleaner and launderer located at 636 11th Avenue at 46th Street with some nine drop-off locations throughout Manhattan, with violations of environmental hazardous waste regulations. EPA inspected Splendid in August 2000 and observed that several containers used to hold wastes containing tetrachloroethylene, or "perc," were open and not labeled as required by law. EPA also observed that perc waste from one of the containers had overflowed into a sewer floor drain. Perc is the most commonly used chemical dry cleaning agent. It easily evaporates into the air and if inhaled for short periods of time, can cause headaches, fatigue and incoordination. In higher doses and over longer periods of time, perc can cause kidney and liver damage, and may cause cancer. EPA and New York State regulations require that containers used to hold perc and other hazardous wastes be closed tightly and bear labels stating the contents and the day the collection of the contents began. EPA charged that Splendid: mismanaged and mislabeled several containers holding perc wastes; did not conduct weekly inspections of areas where containers were stored; and shipped perc off-premises without hazardous waste manifests. In addition, EPA found that Splendid violated state regulations when it incorrectly disposed of fluorescent lightbulbs and did not familiarize local emergency responders with the layout of and chemicals at the facility in the event of an accident. Splendid also told EPA that it routinely emptied out the perc waste contents of one of the waste containers into a sewer floor drain. Discharging untreated hazardous waste to a sewer system is a violation of state and city rules. EPA is seeking a penalty of $34,250, and has ordered the company to comply with all applicable federal and state hazardous waste regulations. To help the dry cleaning industry better comply with environmental regulations, since 1996, EPA’s Region 2 office has offered compliance assistance to over 400 dry cleaners in the New York City area and New Jersey. The agency offered multilingual literature about environmental regulations and a review of facility operations and on-site compliance assistance with temporary amnesty from penalties, and issued Notices of Violations that required companies to make improvements, but did not levy penalties. Unfortunately, the industry did not show a significant increase in compliance in response to EPA’s efforts. The agency has since shifted its focus to inspections and formal enforcement proceedings against companies like Splendid, which now face monetary penalties and orders to immediately improve environmental conditions. Since January 2000, the agency has issued complaints seeking a total of $317,125 from violating dry cleaners in New York and New Jersey. It is still in dry cleaners’ best interest, however, to contact EPA for compliance assistance before enforcement actions are taken. EPA’s Dry Cleaning Compliance Assistance number is (212) 637-4050.