WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — The modern dry cleaner may be a weekly stop for many people, especially in areas with uniformed workers and/or higher incomes.
This frequent destination can drive business into a shopping center, especially those tenanted with other essential services, hence the persistence of this business that is often cash-based, low-profit, and family-operated.
Environmental challenges can arise to the owner or buyer of a shopping center or pad site with such a facility, due to the historical or current use of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as the cleaning agent.
Operations, if improper, may have spilled VOCs onto floor surfaces from drycleaning machine operations or stain removal by hand. If floor surfaces are cracked or other pathways to the environment exist, then soil, groundwater, and air vapor spaces beneath the building can be impacted.
Contamination at higher amounts can sometimes require testing and cleanup up to $1 million or more, but most sites require far less, and many none at all.
The VOC cleaning agent has changed over years, and since the 1950s has been mostly a chlorinated type known as perchloroethylene, aka PCE or “perc.”
In the 1990s, “green” solvents emerged, which are still VOCs, e.g. DF-2000 or EcoSolv, yet without chlorination.
These are isoparaffins — multi-chained, saturated petroleum distillates (naphtha) — which pose reduced health risks to workers and the environment, but still have extensive regulations that have increased considerably in most states in the past decade or so.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCENARIOS
Specific challenges to the buyer or seller can include the following:
Environmental: If spill/leak occurs, then soil, groundwater (GW), and air media can be affected; impacted air often poses the biggest threat to human health, but GW costs most to clean;
Environmental: Upon sale, the buyer’s ASTM Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) will often recommend a Phase II ESA (subsurface and/or indoor air testing) if perc was used at any time in history; and
Real Estate: This affects the rest of the deal, since it can add much more legal and administrative effort, and even kill the sale. Note that proper environmental compliance paperwork and photographic documentation add weight to a favorable ESA.
WHAT TO CHECK FOR
So what are strategies to minimize risk to the existing and future buyer or seller? Our experience in auditing and/or relocating dozens of dry cleaners the past several years, and performing many hundreds of ESAs and cleanups at such sites, suggests prudent, proactive steps by an owner would include:
Whenever visiting the tenant/space, ideally monthly or so, spend 10 minutes to scan the “Compliance Calendar” checklists established in many states. By law, operators must conduct (inspections) either weekly or monthly, for aspects such as proper machine operation, especially temperature or pressure; verifying absence of spills or leaks; tracking solvent use and disposal; and presence of “hazardous waste” signage; and machine operations and maintenance manual. Note that the compliance requirements are explained in several languages;
Whenever conducting such a visit, ask if a state or local agency has audited/visited the space, and what documentation resulted. We have seen too often that landlords were unaware their tenants had been fined, incurred administrative penalties or were under deadlines to improve operations;
Stipulate in lease or lease renewals that non-chlorinated solvents only are used, with penalties applicable for lease violation;
Perform annual formal reviews, or at least prior to sale, of compliance records (prior 12 months of compliance calendars), and verify operating certificate and permits for non-contact discharges, where applicable (air, sewer);
Check for presence of any staining in machine area (compare to baseline photographs). Note that typically, as “small” or “very small” generators, less than two drums of waste solvent can be kept on-site at a time. The presence of more than this amount is usually a key indicator that regulatory compliance is not current;
Keep flooring and joints between walls and floor impervious (epoxy or other coating, not just bare concrete), and repair cracks as needed. Ensure spaces with solvent spill potential do not drain directly to floor or outside drains/sewer inlets; and
- Where possible, move active drycleaning operations out of a shopping center to off-site location, and convert to drop store only.
Check back Thursday for the conclusion.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].