Dive Brief:
- Safety-Kleen Systems will pay $175,000 in a settlement with the U.S. EPA over maintenance, storage and equipment violations at its facility in Linden, New Jersey.
- Safety-Kleen, a division of Clean Harbors that recycles used oil and offers industrial waste handling services, was cited for several compliance violations stemming from a 2024 inspection. The facility was not maintained properly, experienced several equipment malfunctions and had “faulty storage,” EPA said.
- The company has since repaired and upgraded equipment. The company has also improved labeling and handling procedures and retrained staff, the agency said.
Dive Insight:
EPA says the New Jersey facility had several issues that needed to be addressed before they could become a danger to workers and the surrounding community.
Notable problems included equipment leaks and pipes that were not properly sealed, which the agency said “greatly increased the risk of releasing volatile organic compounds, harmful chemical vapors, into the air.”
There were also cracks and gaps in the backup containment structures that are designed to catch hazardous waste leaking from tanks or containers, the agency said. Inspectors also noted delays in repairing leaking pumps, and in some cases pumps were not tagged for repair.
The facility did not have proper labels on equipment, and waste was not stored in the correct kind of containers, EPA said.
“At the fundamental level, properly handling hazardous waste helps us prevent sites needing future cleanup and upholds the safety of our communities,” said EPA Regional Administrator Michael Martucci in a statement.
“We take our compliance obligations seriously and worked cooperatively with the EPA to address the agency’s concerns. The matter involves regulatory compliance requirements, and we have implemented the necessary measures to bring the facility into compliance,” wrote Donna Ayer, Clean Harbors’ vice president of government and public affairs, in an emailed statement. She added that the Linden location is “committed to operating safely, protecting the environment, and meeting or exceeding all applicable federal and state regulations” and will continue to work with regulators to stay compliant.
Safety-Kleen has been fined before for storage, labeling and compliance issues. In 2023, it paid a $95,781 civil penalty to resolve alleged Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations at facilities in Des Moines, Iowa; Grand Island, Nebraska; and Wichita, Kansas.
In that instance, EPA alleged that the company failed to comply with hazardous waste permitting rules at these sites, which included incorrect labeling, failure to properly manage used oil and failure to maintain adequate records of hazardous waste.
Clean Harbors has also resolved other environmental cleanup settlements in recent years. In 2024, the company faced a $5 million fine and conducted cleanup for polychlorinated biphenyls contamination at a Superfund site near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That site was contaminated with the PCBs before Clean Harbors acquired it in 2002 through a purchase of certain Safety-Kleen assets, and the company notes it never operated the site.
Clean Harbors in 2024 noted a total of 125 “incidents of non-compliance associated with environmental impacts” in its leachate and hazardous waste management category, according to its most recent sustainability report.
Clean Harbors in recent years has aimed to make its Safety-Kleen segment more profitable amid softness in the base oil and lubricants market. During its most recent earnings call in February, executives said they were pleased with the sector’s bounce-back due in part to a charge-for-oil strategy to offset price conditions.
The company is also investing $50 million in its vacuum truck fleet to prepare for possible growth in the Safety-Kleen business.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Clean Harbors.
