USA TODAY International Edition
Industrial barrel recycling plants rack up violations
A group of workers poured leftover chemicals into a 250-gallon plastic container sitting on the floor of a Joliet, Ill., plant that recycles and refurbishes barrels and totes. “Go feel that and tell me if it’s warm,” a supervisor said when they were finis
The Joliet Fire Department was called, as was the hazardous materials crew. It took six hours to clear the scene at Tote Detailing. No one was injured, but the October 2014 incident was another alarm for the facility — and the barrel reconditioning industry.
The industry, which presents itself as a friend of the environment, has a hidden record of chemical spills and deadly explosions, frequent fires, and pollution of the air, ground and water, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found.
The Journal Sentinel reviewed a decade’s worth of state and federal environmental and workplace records for 50 barrel recycling plants in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Texas and California.
The examination found that 35 of the plants had violations and complaints — including several with repeat violations — but the companies rarely were fined by regulators, and when they were, the tallies were typically $15,000 or less.
A plant in California was cited for storing hazardous waste without a permit. One in Indiana was keeping chemicals on site before a major fire. And a plant in Florida was cited for polluting the air through its sandblasting operation.
Multiple plants triggered complaints from nearby residents about the air being fouled.
The findings build on what the Journal Sentinel found in an earlier investigation into a string of barrel recycling plants that include three in the Milwaukee area. Those plants were endangering workers and residents when chemicals were mixed together, causing reactions and sending noxious fumes into the air.
The Journal Sentinel’s analysis examined records of plants belonging to the industry trade group Reusable Industrial Packaging Association, or RIPA, which represents about 90% of the nation’s barrel recycling operations.
The problems are likely much deeper. Some of the worst plants don’t belong to RIPA and are virtually unknown to regulators — and those companies handle the dirtiest drums for companies that are eager to quietly get rid of hazardous waste illegally, according to both an industry executive and an outside consultant, who asked not to be named to protect their jobs.
“There are parts (of the industry) that are very dangerous and you really have to stay on top of it,” said the executive, who has spent 20 years in the industry. “The problem is nobody does, because (the drums and containers) are like rabbits — they keep coming.
“You can’t process them fast enough.”
Each year, 27 million drums and totes are proc-
essed for reuse or scrapping at more than 100 facilities across the country. In many cases, they arrive with unidentified chemicals sloshing in the bottom, which — when mixed or mishandled — can lead to injuries and deaths.
Paul Rankin, president of the trade association, noted the industry handles drums and containers that would otherwise end up in landfills.
“The reconditioning business has been around 100 years and it provides a service to industry in the U.S. and around the world in an environmentally sound way,” he said. “It is a service that is valued and needed.”
Colin O’Malley, an attorney who represented residents who successfully won a lawsuit over health problems linked to the Acme Barrel plant in Chicago, said the industry has cultivated an image of being green and helping the environment.
But under pressure from customers to get rid of the chemicals in the barrels, he said, the businesses are often the opposite.
“The narrative has always been this is a recycling company,” O’Malley said. “It is not a recycling company. It is an unlicensed hazardous waste facility masquerading as a barrel company.”
Years of problems
The Joliet plant, once known as JOIL Cleaning, is in an industrial park, but about 1,000 feet from a neighborhood of homes. The plant’s neighbors have repeatedly complained about noxious odors from the operation.
According to Illinois environmental and local fire and police records:
In May 2011, firefighters were summoned for black smoke coming from the building. They discovered a semi-truck on fire inside.
Six months later, firefighters were called again, this time for an odor complaint from the Troy Titans baseball facility nearby. The firefighters quickly detected the odor, too.
“We found conditions to be very questionable,” the department’s report said. “There was a ‘green’ liquid coming from the exterior dumpster.” Green liquid from some of the plastic containers was going right down the drain.
A man who identified himself as “the boss” promised to clean it up.
Two weeks later, another odor complaint. This time, children at the baseball facility reported feeling ill and having headaches from the smell.
The plant manager was told “he must take care of the fumes,” the report said. It gave no indication of whether there was additional enforcement action.
Three years later, the fire department was back — for a chemical mixture that shot smoke and liquids into the air.
Joliet Fire Chief Joe Formhals toured the plant two months after the mishap.
He was shocked at what he saw: A collection of hazardous chemicals on site with no permits. In a report to state environmental regulators, Formhals wrote that plant officials had no way to say what chemicals there were on site at any given time or how dangerous they were. The training and safety equipment also were poor, he added.
“We have had a couple of other incidents at this property over the last few years and with its close proximity to a residential area, the next incident could be disastrous,” Formhals wrote.
Records show no punitive action was taken by state environmental regulators after they visited the plant.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected the plant and found eight violations, ranging from how the plant handled hazardous materials to poor record keeping. The fine was $10,400, but negotiated down to $5,640.
OSHA was back last year and found two of the same violations related to failing to train workers on potential risks. The penalty? $2,000.
Fire highlights unknown threat
Fires are a hazard of the drum reconditioning business. In May 2014, a fire at Indianapolis Drum Service underscored the risks. It took 80 firefighters to get the three-alarm blaze under control. Residents were forced to stay in their homes for hours. The fire destroyed much of the 30,000-square-foot metal building.
The cause of the fire: Spontaneous combustion of chemicals.
Hayden Smith, who lives about 100 yards from the plant, remembers the mad scramble by firefighters, who donned hazardous material masks and other protective gear.
“Guys were going nuts trying to figure out what it was,” said Smith, 69, a retired truck driver who sometimes transported hazardous materials. “It was a hodgepodge of everything. Flammables. Acids. They didn’t know what they were dealing with.”
In June 2014, a fire ripped through Scranton Cooperage, a drum reconditioning facility in Pennsylvania. A 55gallon drum holding sodium chlorite was punctured and ignited a fire.
Eric Spatt, owner of the business, was charged with mishandling hazardous chemicals. He is accused of storing dangerous waste over a period of approximately 13 years, allowing the drums to deteriorate during that time, according to the criminal complaint.
Spatt had never applied for a permit to store, process, treat or dispose of solid waste at the business, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said.