EPA Penalizes Kansas Packaging Companies for Alleged Hazardous Waste Violations
LENEXA, KAN. (DEC. 2, 2024) – Two Kansas plastic packaging companies, Packaging Products Corporation LLC in Mission and PPC Flexible LLC in Kansas City, have agreed to collectively pay a civil penalty of $182,879 and to spend nearly $710,000 in upgrades to resolve violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Both companies are subsidiaries of PPC Flex and manufacture food-grade packaging, a process which involves generating hazardous ink and solvent waste. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the companies violated multiple federal regulations intended to protect workers and the public from exposure to the hazardous waste.
EPA inspected the Packaging Products and PPC Flexible facilities in 2022 and 2023 and determined the companies violated federal law by:
- Operating a hazardous treatment, storage, or disposal facility without a permit.
- Failing to comply with universal waste and used oil management regulations.
- Failing to conduct hazardous waste determinations.
- Failing to provide required notification to the state about changes in company operations.
“EPA is committed to leveling the playing field for companies that comply with federal law,” said EPA Region 7 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director David Cozad. “This settlement demonstrates EPA’s commitment to protect communities from releases of hazardous waste, especially those already burdened by historical pollution.”
In addition to paying the civil penalty, the settlement with EPA includes the implementation of a computerized upgrade to Environmental Management Systems designed to track compliance obligations with state and federal requirements, as well as the complete replacement of halogen and fluorescent lighting systems with energy-efficient and hazardous waste-free LED lighting, at 11 PPC Flex facilities nationwide.
EPA identified the community in Kansas City, Kansas, surrounding the PPC Flexible facility as a potentially sensitive area, because of exposures to particulate matter, air toxics cancer risk, toxic air releases, Superfund site proximity, hazardous waste proximity, and wastewater discharges. EPA is strengthening enforcement in overburdened communities to address disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of industrial operations on vulnerable populations.
According to EPA, Packaging Products, which no longer operates its Mission, Kansas, facility, and PPC Flexible qualified as “large quantity generators” of hazardous wastes. Exposure to these kinds of waste may lead to injury or death. Federal law requires facilities that generate hazardous wastes to identify the waste and implement safe generation, handling, transportation, and disposal practices.
Learn more about EPA’s Hazardous Waste programs.
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