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Here's the latest edition of Environmental
Enlightenment - a SHORT, LIGHT and SIMPLE environmental newsletter. Its
purpose is to inform and educate.
The online version can be viewed at:
http://www.amiadini.com/newsletters/environmental-enlightenment-094.html
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& Associates, unsubscribe now by scrolling to the bottom of this email
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This is one in a series of newsletters dealing with dry cleaning operations and their historical impact on air pollution and groundwater contamination. For more information please refer to the newsletter section in our web site www.amiadini.com.
Waste Management Practices
in Drycleaning Operations
(The information in this newsletter has been gleaned from an EPA sponsored site http://www.drycleancoalition.org and enhanced with pictures obtained from the Web.)
A greater variety of chemicals are used at the spotting board than at any other location in a drycleaning plant.
Sometimes a large number of containers containing spotting agents are temporarily stored on the spotting board. In addition to splashing and other discharges during the spotting process, containers of spotting agents have leaked or been spilled around the area of the spotting board. The drain receptacle (semi-circular cylinder) located at the base of the spotting board, which receives steam condensate and spotting wastes will tend to corrode over time and will eventually leak.
Some operators have replaced these receptacles with cans or plastic containers, but others have allowed these wastes to discharge to the floor or a floor drain. Most containers of spotting agents at drycleaning facilities are not stored in secondary containment, but instead on shelves or on the floor.
Spotting board wastes have been discharged to floor drains (sanitary sewer), septic tanks and to the ground.
Historically, lint from drycleaning operations has been disposed with trash and in some cases discharged to the ground outside the facility. As stated earlier, lint from a drycleaning machine contains solvent and lint extracted from the button trap or the pump strainer will be saturated with solvent.
A few odd waste management practices and drycleaning solvent uses that have been reported include still bottoms being used to undercoat vehicles, and PCE being used to kill weeds and fire ants outside a drycleaning facility.
Call me if you've got any questions. There are no
obligations.
Ami Adini
Ami Adini & Associates, Inc.
Environmental Consultants
Underground Storage Tank
Experts
323-913-4073; 323-667-2336
fax
mail@amiadini.com
www.amiadini.com
Ami
Adini is a mechanical engineer, California Registered Environmental
Assessor, Level II, and president of AMI ADINI & ASSOCIATES, INC.
(AA&A), an environmental consulting firm specializing in all phases of
environmental site assessments, rehabilitation of contaminated sites and
upgrading of underground storage tank facilities.
AA&A supplies practical solutions to
environmental concerns using the highest standards of ethics and integrity
while providing its clients with maximum return on their
investments.
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