National Clothesline

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality held its first Dry Cleaner Advisory Committee meeting in over a year.

Several Oregon Dry Cleaners Association members were in attendance, including advisory members Kathy Butters, Gary Campbell and Steve Young and incoming president Scott McClure.

Once the meeting was called to order, Dick De Zeeuw from DEQ outlined an update on the state ’s Dry Cleaner Program.

In 2005, the program included 304 drycleaners, 114 dry stores, 13 closures, 26 new ownership changes, 12 new locations, and 56 using alternative solvents, which was almost twice as many as the 30 recorded in the previous year.

There was good news for the statewide drycleaning industry as the 2006 fee collection process has become much more efficient.

Nearly 99 percent of the fees have been collected. Only nine drycleaners had an outstanding balance, which added up to about $10,000. Cleaners with balances have been referred to the Department of Revenue for collection.

In terms of remediation, a total of 15 sites have completed cleanups since the program ’s inception over ten years ago.

There are also 15 additional sites currently undergoing the remediation process and another 16 are in the queue.

The program allocated $550,000 in cleanup funds for 2006 The program is funded through fees paid by the drycleaning industry.

The fee breakdown is: $500 for any drycleaning facility that utilized any solvent prior to January of 1998, and $500 for any drycleaning facility that currently uses perc. Plants must also pay additional solvent fees of $10 per gallon of perc and $2 for each gallon of other solvent purchased.

Another bright side of the meeting was drycleaner compliance. According to De Zeeuw, cleaners continue to improve, but there are still a few areas where more improvement is needed.

For starters, Oregon cleaners need to monitor their condenser temperature and replace the filters on their wastewater treatment units. Additionally, cleaners need to improve on leak inspections.

According to the DEQ’s 2005 annual report, 28 cleaners received Air Quality referrals for not submitting longs, not monitoring or not performing leak detection on a weekly basis.

Rebecca Hillwig from Air Quality discussed how cleaners will be required to use new leak detectors; no longer will sight and smell tests be acceptable. DEQ is offering training with the new detectors across the state, and, fortunately, most cleaners have already undergone training.

The final topic discussed at the meeting pertained to the auditing process. DEQ is seeking advice from committee members on what kinds of factors should trigger an audit. The Advisory Committee will be meeting again in the Spring to discuss the topic at greater length.

For more information on the program, go to www.deq.state.or.us/lq/cu/drycleaner.

The California Cleaners Association will be offering several classes under its Cleaning Science Instruction program.

First up is a course on the “Science of Our Industry” in Los Angeles on Feb. 3 and in Stockton on Feb. 10.

A course on “Spotting 1: Modern Textile Technologies” is set for March 10 in L.A. and March 24 in Stockton.

There will also be classes on “Spotting 2: Know Your Chemistry” in L.A. on March 7 and Stockton on March 31, as well as “Spotting 3: Bleaching and Advanced Stain Removal Techniques” in L.A. on April 21 and Stockton on April 14.

The Stockton classes are at Snows Cleaners and the Los Angeles classes are at Perfect Cleaners. The cost is $75 per person for CCA members and $125 for anybody else. For more information, call CCA at (916) 239-4070.

During its annual membership meeting, the Western States Drycleaners and Launderers Association announced its 2007 board of directors. The new president will be “Dryclean Dave” Silliman, owner of Uptowne Drycleaning in Phoenix. Joining him will be Larry Durgin of Seville $1.75 Cleaners in Tucs on as president-elect, and Carol Ticgelaor, also of Uptowne, as treasurer.

Donn Frye, Jr., will become the chairman of the board. All officers will serve two-year terms.

Frye was also honored for his service to WSDLA and the drycleaning industry with a plague honoring his dedication and effort.

Recently, he has been a key figure in working with the Arizona Water Quality Board and the Department of Environmental Quality and has headed the Hope for the Holidays clothing drive.