Safety-Kleen Systems - Cape Girardeau

Background/ History

Safety-Kleen operates a commercial hazardous waste storage facility at this site, located at 201 Lasalle St. in Cape Girardeau. Since 1978, this facility has been a temporary accumulation point for spent solvents, paint wastes, lacquer thinner wastes and waste oil produced by Safety-Kleen customers. The majority of Safety-Kleen’s customers are small quantity generators. Safety-Kleen also stores other types of wastes on a 10-day transfer basis. Safety-Kleen is certified to handle most hazardous waste, other than dioxin or polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCBs) greater than 50 parts per million. Once a sufficient quantity of materials is collected in containers and tanks, the hazardous waste is shipped to a Safety-Kleen recycling facility or a contract reclaimer for processing.

Safety-Kleen is operating under a department-issued Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit, originally issued in 1993 and reissued in 2007 and 2019.

Cleanup Summary

The permit issued to the Safety Kleen Cape Girardeau facility require corrective action in the event there is a release of hazardous waste or hazardous constituents to the environment. In 1992, Safety-Kleen removed three underground storage tanks, which had been used for storing spent solvent, reclaimed solvent and spent solvent sludge. Approximately 85 cubic yards of contaminated soil was removed and disposed during the closure. The department accepted Safety Kleen’s closure certification for the tanks in 2002. In 2010, the department determined that human exposure to contamination and migration of contaminated groundwater are both currently considered under control. Further corrective action was not necessary at the site at that time.