Solvent Recovery Corp.

Background/ History

The Solvent Recovery Corp. site is located at 716 Mulberry St. in Kansas City, Missouri. Rizzel Paint originally constructed the building in 1926. Over the next 65+ years, the facility changed ownership several times and was operated as S and R Paint and Varnish Co., Mobil Oil Co., Douglas Paint Co., Douglas Solvent Recovery Corp., Riedel Environmental Technologies Inc. and Burlington Environmental Inc. In 1993, Philip Environmental, which later became Philip Services Corp, purchased the facility. Solvent Recovery Corp., which changed its name to Solvent Recovery LLC in 2010, is a wholly owned subsidiary of PSC Environmental Services LLC, previously Philip Services Corp. 

Solvent operates a commercial hazardous waste treatment and storage facility that acts as an “in-between” facility. Solvent transports a variety of hazardous waste produced by other hazardous waste generators to their facility. Solvent is certified to handle most hazardous waste, other than dioxins or polychlorinated biphenyls greater than 50 parts per million. Solvent uses miscellaneous treatment units to extract paint and paint related wastes from collected containers. Solvent blends other hazardous waste and stores it in containers or tanks until shipped off-site to be used as supplemental fuel for energy recovery. Wastes that cannot be fuel blended are collected and stored until Solvent ships it to other facilities designed and permitted to handle that waste. Solvent operates under two hazardous waste permits, one issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and one issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), originally issued in 1991 and reissued March 30, 2005. The department issued the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit. EPA issued the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments Part II Permit. Under the permits, Solvent is allowed to store hazardous wastes in containers and tanks.

Cleanup Summary

The permits issued to Solvent require them to investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents to the environment at their facility resulting from present and past hazardous waste handling practices. Solvent has had several spills on site and a tank explosion resulting in contamination. Solvent is conducting corrective action activities under the same two hazardous waste permits the facility is operating under. Solvent completed a RCRA Facility Investigation in 2002, to define the horizontal and vertical extent of any contamination. Since that time, additional investigations have been performed to fill in data gaps. Solvent has also submitted a draft Corrective Measures Study to the department to identify and evaluate possible remedial alternatives for the soil and groundwater contamination. Solvent currently samples groundwater on site semi-annually. In addition, Solvent operated a soil vapor extraction system to remove contaminants. When the investigations are complete, the department and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will review the possible remedial measures and select the best remedy given site-specific considerations.