Facility Site ID: 70726415 Cleanup Site ID: 12484

  • Site Status

  • Cleanup Started

What's New?

Last updated May 2024

Stericycle/CleanEarth/Burlington Kent and Ecology are in the process of completing
the draft Agreed Order, draft Cleanup Action Plan, State Environmental Policy Act/Determination of Non-significance proposal, and Public Participation Plan. Once
these documents are complete, they will go out for public comment.

Cleanup Process

Stericycle/CleanEarth/Burlington Kent must follow regulations set by Washington’s Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA), which sets a standard process for cleaning up contaminated sites.

Ecology approved the Remedial Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) for this site in 2018. The RI and FS are important steps in Ecology's cleanup process. Ecology did not receive any comments from the public and approved the RI/FS study on March 20, 2018.

Remedial Investigation (RI)
The purpose of the RI is to define the nature and extent of contamination at the site.

Feasibility Study (FS)
The FS used the results from the RI to evaluate and propose measures to cleanup contamination.

Ecology selected cleanup Alternative 1 which includes:

Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA)
MNA requires that the soil and groundwater contamination be monitored under the natural conditions to ensure that it is breaking down at an appropriate rate.

Institutional Controls
The site is securely fenced and public access is controlled. Institutional controls are outlined in section 8.1.1 of the Final Feasibility Study.

Dangerous Waste Permit
Stericycle is closing several of its Treatment, Storage and Disposal (TSD) dangerous waste units. They are completing this work under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) through their TSD Part B Permit. Ecology oversees permits required by RCRA for facilities that deal with hazardous wastes.

Contamination

A number of spills and leaks of hazardous substances have occurred at the site since the facility began operations. Most of the spills and leaks are from the tank farm area. While most of these releases remained within secondary containment, several resulted in the release of contamination to soil and groundwater at the site.

In the soil, contaminants of concern are:

  • Vinyl chloride
  • benzene
  • Petroleum products (diesel, lube oil, and gasoline)
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)
  • Arsenic
  • Cyanide
  •  In the groundwater, contaminants of concern are:

  • Arsenic
  • Cyanide
  • Hexavalent chromium
  • Iron
  • Site Background

    1980
    The site was developed as a commercial treatment and storage facility for oily wastewater. The facility was used for commercial storage and transfer of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated materials. Other hazardous waste management activities at the facility included the processing and treatment of:

    -Acids
    -Caustics
    -Oily wastes
    -Phenols
    -Cyanide
    -Sludges
    -Aqueous metal-bearing wastes

    2015
    Ecology approved a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit modification for this hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facility. The permit included relocating operations to Tacoma.

    Other changes to the permit included:

    - Construction upgrades.
    - Relocation of various operations to the Tacoma facility.
    - Removing several dangerous waste units.
    - Changing the facility name from “PSC-Kent” to “Stericycle-Kent.”
    - Closure of several holding tanks that held non-regulated oily wastewater.

    2017
    Stericycle started moving its hazardous waste activities from its facility in Kent to their facility in Tacoma. The Tacoma facility is located in a highly industrial area in the Tacoma tide flats. There will be no change in the number of trucks going to and from the Tacoma facility.
    Public Information 4
    Document Title Document Date Document Type
    Comment and Approval of the Final Feasibility Study (RI/FS), Stericycle Kent Facility 3/20/2018 Responsiveness Summary
    Cleanup Process Graphic 9/29/2017 Fact Sheet\Public Notices
    Draft Dangerous Waste Permit for Burlington Environmental-Kent Fact Sheet 4/1/2012 Fact Sheet\Public Notices
    Draft Dangerous Waste Permit for Burlington Environmental-Kent Fact Sheet 4/1/2012 Fact Sheet\Public Notices
    Technical Reports 10
    Document Title Document Date Document Type
    Feasiblity Study Executive Summary 6/21/2017 Feasibility Study
    Final Feasibility Study 6/21/2017 Feasibility Study
    Philip Services Co Kent - Initial Investigation Field Report 9/17/2014 Initial Investigation Report
    Appendix 6B Groundwater Analytical Data Summary 12/19/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    Appendix 6A Soil Analytical Data Summary 12/17/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    Appendix 4A Soil Boring Logs 12/17/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    Appendix 3B Well Construction Diagrams 12/17/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    Appendix 3A Standard Operations and Procedures 12/17/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    Appendix 2A Historical Photos and Maps 12/17/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    Remedial Investigation Report 12/17/2007 Remedial Investigation Report
    There may be more documents related to this site. To obtain documents not available electronically, you will need to make a public records request.

    Places to see print documents

    • King County Library - Kent Library
      212 2nd AVE N
      Kent, 98032
      This location may only have print documents available during open comment periods.

    Contaminants 13

    Contaminant Type
    Soil
    Groundwater
    Surface Water
    Air
    Sediment
    Bedrock
    Metals - Metals - Other C
    Halogenated Organics - Polychlorinated biPhenyls (PCB) C
    Pesticides - Halogenated Pesticides C C
    Non-Halogenated Organics - Non-Halogenated Solvents C C
    Non-Halogenated Organics - Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons C C
    Other Contaminant - Conventional Contaminants, Organic C
    Metals - Arsenic C C C
    Metals - Lead C
    Metals - Mercury C
    Non-Halogenated Organics - Benzene C
    Non-Halogenated Organics - Other Non-Halogenated Organics C
    Non-Halogenated Organics - Petroleum-Other C C
    Pesticides - Non-Halogenated Pesticides C C
    S
    Suspected
    C
    Confirmed Above Cleanup Levels
    B
    Below Cleanup Levels
    RA
    Remediated-Above
    RB
    Remediated-Below
    R
    Remediated
    This contaminant list was based on our best information at the time it was entered. It may not reflect current conditions at the site.