An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Hazardous Waste Cleanup: Safety-Kleen Systems Incorporated in Chester, Virginia

On this page:


A Confirmatory Sampling Plan (CSP) was conditionally approved by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on June 10, 2010. Results of the CSP implementation were submitted to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the EPA in a Confirmatory Sampling Report (CSR) by Environmental Consulting and Technology, Inc. (ECT) dated September 14, 2010. The DEQ approved the results provided in the CSR in a letter to Safety-Kleen dated February 3, 2011.

    Cleanup Status

    The DEQ reviewed all available Facility data and determined that there were no unaddressed releases of hazardous waste or hazardous constituents from the Facility. The decision represents "Corrective Action Complete without Controls". A Statement of Basis (SB) was public noticed on July 18, 2011, which proposed Corrective Action Complete without Controls. No comments were received and the final decision regarding the Facility was approved on September 29, 2011,  as part of a Class 2 Permit Modification for incorporating the decision into the facility's Hazardous Waste Management Permit. The DEQ determined that its decision for the Facility is protective of human health and the environment and that no further corrective action or controls are necessary at this time.

    Top of Page


    Site Description

    Interactive Map of Safety-Kleen Systems Incorporated, Chester, VA

    View larger map

    Since the early 1980's, the Safety-Kleen facility has been providing solvent distribution, collection and reclamation services to companies primarily engaged in automobile repair, industrial maintenance, photo processing and dry cleaning. The business activities conducted at the facility relate to the leasing and servicing of Safety-Kleen parts cleaning equipment, the collection and distribution of solvents, the collection of paint wastes, and the collection and management of industrial wastes. The solvents are distributed from and returned to the service center, where separate aboveground storage tanks are utilized for the storage of clean and used parts washer solvent, and waste oil. Additional space is designated for the storage of drums containing various waste streams including both clean and used immersion cleaner, dry cleaner wastes, photographic processing wastes, and paint wastes. The stored materials are periodically removed from the facility and transported to other facilities for reclamation or other method of disposal. No reclamation or disposal activities are performed at the Chester facility.

    Groundwater investigation activities performed at the Facility during the mid-1990's showed low-level volatile organic compounds (VOCs) detected in groundwater sampled from two on-site groundwater monitoring wells and one nearby residential water well.

    In mid-July 1998, Safety-Kleen installed two new groundwater monitoring wells (MW-4 and PZ-5) to confirm the direction of the groundwater flow, and to further evaluate groundwater quality conditions. Three additional rounds of groundwater monitoring well samples were taken and analyzed in July 1998, January 1999, and July 1999. Thereafter, an additional round of groundwater monitoring well samples were taken and analyzed in August 2002. In 2002, Virginia DEQ review of the analytical results of groundwater samples collected during the sampling events completed through 2002 indicated a downward trend in the concentration of the two VOC contaminants of concern, tetrachloroethene and 1, 1-dichloroethene, was evident. The sampling reports dated August 1999 and September 2002 confirmed there were no groundwater detections exceeding the drinking water standards (MCLs).

    Concurrent with the groundwater monitoring activities, on October 2, 1998, as an Interim Measure, Safety-Kleen completed the connection of the private residence to the Chesterfield County public water supply, and disabled the residential water well. Drinking water samples collected from this residential well were found to contain the same VOCs that were also found in Safety-Kleen's two groundwater monitoring wells.

    Top of Page


    Contaminants at this Facility

    Based on available information there are no known contaminants of concerns or risk.

    Top of Page


    Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility

    Institutional Controls were not required at the site.

      Top of Page


    Land Reuse Information at this Facility

    The facility continues to be used by Safety-Kleen for the purposes of solvent distribution, collection and reclamation services.

    Top of Page


    Site Responsibility at this Facility

    Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action activities at this facility are being conducted under the direction of the Virginia DEQ with assistance from the EPA Region 3.

    Top of Page