National Clothesline

Two states that want to move drycleaners away from perc are using different approaches, one the carrot, the other the stick.

In California, it’s the stick. The sale of perc machines has been outlawed for two years there and this year perc equipment that is 15 years old or older or located in co-residential situations will have to be shut down by July 1.

In New Jersey, it’s the carrot. The state is offering drycleaners reimbursement for removing their old perc equipment, based on the age, capacity and type of machine. And an extra carrot in the form of an additional $15,000 grant is available if they convert the operation to wetcleaning.

New Jersey may be bringing out a stick, soon, however. New regulations for drycleaners are likely to be proposed early this year and cleaners with third-generation perc equipment or operating in co-residential locations or near a day-care center could find themselves forced to make changes.

Two years ago the state proposed to completely eliminate perc drycleaning by 2021. Cleaners operating plants in buildings that include residences would have had to eliminate perc last year under that plan and all third-generation equipment would have been eliminated. But after hearing protests from cleaners and industry representatives, the state withdrew the proposal for further consideration.

Details of the next proposal are yet to be unveiled, but judging from the terms of the reimbursement plan offered by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, third-generation perc machines are an endangered species as are all types of perc equipment in co-residential locations or near day-care centers.

Two years ago NJDEP estimated that 1,100 of the 1,600 perc machines operating in the state were third-generation. The department also believed there were between 500 and 100 co-residential locations.

For those cleaners, as well as any others using perc who want to switch to a hydrocarbon or wetcleaning system, the grant program will help defray some of the cost of buying new equipment. The state has $4 million available for the program, money that came from a settlement in an environmental lawsuit that has been dedicated to the reimbursement scheme.

In California, the state-mandated perc phase-out has been underway for two years, but this year will bring the first big deadline that forces cleaners to take action. Twice during the past two years the California Air Resources Board has turned down appeals from drycleaners to delay the phase-out schedule which will ultimately lead to no perc drycleaning in the state by Jan. 1, 2023 as machines have to be removed when they become 15 years old.

In asking for a delay, cleaners cited both the poor economy, which makes it difficult to finance new equipment, and the state fire code, which makes it difficult to install hydrocarbon equipment, the most popular of the alternatives for cleaners switching away from perc so far.

California offers a grant program, too, but it is much more limited than New Jersey’s. California cleaners who switch from perc to a “non-toxic or non-smog forming” system can receive a grant of $10,000 toward the cost of the new equipment. Through the first three years of the program that began in 2005, 85 cleaners received grants; 83 of the grants went to wetcleaning systems, the other two for liquid carbon dioxide.

Grant money is not available for hydrocarbon systems or GreenEarth, Rynex or n-Propyl Bromide. All except GreenEarth are considered smog-forming VOCs by the state. Although CARB does not consider GreenEarth a VOC and does not believe it poses a risk to the public, it is concerned about potential non-carcinogenic effects and its persistence in the environment and human and animal tissues. A bid to include Green-Earth in grant eligibility was turned down by CARB in 2008.

Beyond the grant program, CARB suggests that cleaners who need financial assistance should look to the local air districts and city or country offices or federal and state small business loan programs. The South Coast Air Quality Management District, for example, has offered grants up for converting to non-perc equipment.

The local air districts are also responsible for enforcement and can, if they want, make requirements more stringent. The South Coast district began phasing out perc earlier than the state program and has a target date of 2020 for the elimination of all perc equipment in its jurisdiction of the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is considering an accelerated phase-out schedule for perc machines. Instead of keeping machines in operation until they are 15 years old, the district is looking at earlier cut-offs of eight, ten or 12 years for the mandatory retirement of perc machines.

Compounding the difficulties for California cleaners is a provision in the state fire code that requires a sprinkler system for all drycleaning plants that use Type II or Type III equipment — basically any hydrocarbon solvent.

To address that issue, CARB said the state fire marshal is considering allowing existing drycleaning facilities to instead comply with provisions of the National Fire Protection Association code which doesn’t require a sprinkler system provided limited quantities of solvent are kept on site and the equipment uses fire suppression systems.

Beyond that, the industry must wait for a final decision of the International Fire Code committee that could adopt the NFPA provisions to replace the sprinkler system requirement. California cleaners facing a perc conversion deadline may find their choices limited to wetcleaning or liquid carbon dioxide until the fire code issue is resolved.

Fire code issues aside, cleaners replacing perc face costs of at least $41,800 to buy and install new equipment. That figure represents the cost of buying and installing a professional wetcleaning system, according to the latest information from CARB. That amount doubles if the new system is a hydrocarbon, GreenEarth, Rynex, Solvair or nPB machine.

Unlike New Jersey, California offers no financial assistance for cleaners switching to one of the latter group. All of those systems, except for nPB, qualify for grants under the New Jersey program, as does liquid carbon dioxide. In fact, under the New Jersey program, reimbursement money can be used to purchase a fourth-generation perc machine to replace a third-generation unit.

The reimbursement amount is based on the age, size and type of machine. For example, a cleaner replacing a 50-lb. fourth-generation perc machine installed in 2000 would be eligible for an $18,000 reimbursement. A third-generation machine of the same age and size would be eligible for a $16,667 reimbursement. Those two machines, if they were only five years old instead of ten, would be eligible for reimbursements of $36,000 and $33,333 respectively.

Only perc equipment is eligible for reimbursement. When the program was first announced, NJDEP said perc equipment more than 15 years old would not be eligible, nor would equipment purchased prior to this year.

However, a question-and-answer document recently released by the department indicates that machines 15 years old and older may qualify. Also, the department said it would consider reimbursements if the new equipment was purchased during 2009 if it meets other requirements of the program, depending on the availability of funds.

NJDEP also said that initial preference will be given to drycleaners in co-residential locations or within 50 feet of day-care centers. During the first six month of the program, only applications for those uses will be approved. Others will have to wait until after July 1.

Machines in co-residential locations can qualify for a reimbursement if they are removed without being replaced by other cleaning equipment, such as converting the location to a drop store. In all other cases, however, the old machinery must be replaced by a new unit to qualify.

Multiple perc machines in a location can qualify, too, even if they are only replaced by a single machine. The total of the reimbursement, however, can not exceed the cost of the new machine.

The current reimbursement scheduled indicates the program could run through 2013 provided funds remain available. However, NJDEP also advised that cleaners should not submit a grant application until they are actually ready to replace their equipment. Once the application is approved, a cleaner will have 90 days to install new equipment. NJDEP advises not applying sooner than within six months of the planned replacement.

For more information on the program, contact NJDEP at (609) 292-3133. Information is also available on the web at www.nj.gov/dep/enforcement/drycleanergrant.html.