National Clothesline

Clean-ups have been completed at 93 drycleaning sites in Florida but there are still many more to go, Fred McCormack, attorney for the Florida Drycleaners Coalition, reported at the South Eastern Fabricare Association’s convention in Savannah in July.

The coalition worked to get the legislation passed in 1994, one of the first of its kind in the nation. The clean-up fund is supported by cleaners through a 2 percent gross receipts tax, $5 per gallon tax on perc and a $100 annual registration fee.

Of 1,565 cleaners that applied for the program, 1,422 were accepted, McCormack said. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection administers clean-ups of the accepted drycleaner sites on a priority basis. Sites are assessed based on potential contaminant sources and environmental concerns. To date, 263 assessments have been completed.

Based on the results of the assessment, the program’s project manager recommends one of four courses: no further action; interim source removal; natural attenuation monitoring; or active remediation to natural attenuation default concentrations followed by monitoring.

Of the sites that have been currently assessed, 58 are undergoing natural attenuation monitoring, an approach to contain the spread of contamination and reduce the concentrations of contaminants at sites where contamination is limited to the property and concentrations are expected to decrease over time.

Other sites may require active remediation, either with a single remedial technology or a combination of technologies. The goal is to achieve No Further Action (NFA) status for each site by demonstrating that contaminated soil or water is below the applicable cleanup target levels.

With more than 1,100 sites yet to be assessed, the program is years away from completion. The state estimates it will take another 65 years; the drycleaners’ coalition is more optimistic, McCormack said. They believe all the sites in the state can be cleaned up in about 40 years.

The South Eastern Fabricare Association hosted its Southern Drycleaners trade show in Savannah, GA, July 28-30.

After an opening night cocktail party on Friday, business got underway Saturday morning with Jim Goulet, service manager for Steiner Atlantic, presenting a two-hour seminar on preventive maintenance. He gave cleaners advice on how to keep all the equipment in the plant running in top condition as well as how to increase the life of equipment through regular maintenance. His check lists of daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual and annual maintenance tasks gave cleaners something to take back to the plant to institute a complete program.

The exhibit hall opened for two days giving cleaners plenty of time to inspect the products and service of the more than 100 exhibitors.

“Don’t Just Please Them, Surprise Them” will be the theme of a drycleaning finishing seminar sponsored by the South Eastern Fabricare Association in Columbia, SC, Oct 7.

Brian Johnson of the International Fabricare Institute will be the instructor for the all-day class. He will help attendees understand the various types of fabrics and their appropriate finishes with an emphasis on how easy it is to cause shine and seam impressions on many of today’s lightweight fabrics.

The seminar will be held at Ed Robinson Laundry & Dry Cleaners, 2551 Forest Dr. Registration is $99 for the first attendee from a SEFA/IFI member plant and $89 for each additional member. The non-member registration is $129.

On-line registration is available at SEFA’s web site, www.sefa.org. Call the SEFA office (877) 707-7332, for more information.