Industrial Container Services WA LLC

Updated February 2025

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Ecology invited comments on several documents for the Industrial Container Services WA LLC cleanup site (Site) located 7152 1st Ave. S. in Seattle near Seattle’s South Park Neighborhood and the First Ave. South bridge over the Lower Duwamish Waterway.

The following documents were available for review*:

• Remedial Investigation: A document detailing the nature (types) and extent (locations) of the contamination at the Site.
• Feasibility Study: A document showing different cleanup methods, called alternatives. This document includes Ecology’s preferred alternative. 

*Note: View Documents below to see all tables, figures, and appendices 

Read comments submitted during the most recent comment period.

Ecology will consider all comments received during this most recent public comment period (November 18, 2024 - January 31, 2025) and may make changes to the documents.  If the documents require significant changes, we will hold another public comment period. If no significant changes are made, Ecology, and then the Potentially Liable Persons (PLPs), will finalize the documents.

The cleanup action plan and a future legal agreement will be available for review during a future public comment period.

This Site is along the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund Site, which consists of a 5-mile stretch of the Duwamish River. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added the LDW Superfund Site to the Superfund National Priorities List in 2001. Ecology is working to stop or reduce sources of contamination to the LDW Superfund Site, an effort known as “source control,” so that the EPA can proceed with the cleanup of the river sediment. This site is located in the middle reach at river mile 2.1-2.2 West: Trotsky Inlet. 

The Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) is Washington’s environmental cleanup law). It provides requirements for contaminated site cleanup and sets standards that protect human health and the environment. Ecology enacts the MTCA and oversees cleanups. The MTCA site cleanup process is completed in steps (see graphic below) over a variable timeline. 

Current Industrial Container Services cleanup site Public Participation Plan

This plan includes information for the public regarding opportunities to get involved in the Site cleanup process. The outreach activities and mechanisms presented reflect Ecology’s current plans for keeping the public informed and for receiving information and comments from the public. 

Site Background
The Site is in an industrial area of Seattle on the west bank of the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW). In 2010, Ecology negotiated a legal agreement, called an Agreed Order, with the property owner Herman Trotsky and the site operator, Industrial Container Services-WA, LLC, the Potentially Liable Persons (PLPs) for the Site.

 It is bordered on the north by the Douglas Management Dock cleanup site. The site contains an inlet to the Duwamish River (Trotsky inlet) on the north side.  

Industrial activities at the Site occurred at the following times:

• 1930s: The earliest drum reconditioning and manufacturing operations occurred at the Site.
• 1940s: Mitzel & Co. reportedly refurbished 1,500 drums per month for the U.S. government during World War II.
• 1953: The Trotsky family purchased the property and operated the site as Northwest Cooperage. 
• 1973-1990: The property was bermed and paved, and a wastewater pretreatment system was installed. The pretreatment system included a “closed” drainage system that channels all drainage, including stormwater, spills, and process water into a wastewater pretreatment system flowing into the sanitary sewer.
• Today: Industrial Container Services-WA, LLC currently leases the property and continues to operate a drum reconditioning facility. Operations at the site include storage, cleaning, and repainting of used drums, some of which may have previously contained food products, petroleum products, solvents, resins, paints, adhesives or other materials.

Contamination
Investigations found the following contamination above WA State cleanup levels:  

• Soil: Metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs), pentachlorophenol (PCP), DDT, dieldrin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
• Groundwater:  VOCs, semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), PCBs, petroleum hydrocarbons, and pesticides 
• Sediment: PCBs, metals, and SVOCs