An industrial laundry in Manchester has agreed to settle claims by the US Environmental Protection Agency that it violated the Clean Air Act. It has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $65,000, to undertake a Supplemental Environmental Project with a value of at least $220,000 to replace old, polluting wood stoves in southern New Hampshire with new,cleaner models, and to install equipment at its facility to remove approximately 25 tons per year of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
G&K Services Co., and its subsidiary Alltex Uniform Rental Service, Inc., have agreed to help homeowners replace their inefficient and polluting wood stoves with EPA-certified wood stoves or other cleaner, more efficient home heating equipment such as gas or propane heaters. G&K Services will provide funding to households as an incentive to help replace pre-1988 woodstoves, which are a significant source of indoor and outdoor air pollution.
ÂSouthern New Hampshire will most certainly benefit from this wood stove change-out project, said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPAÂs New England regional office. ÂHomeowners will get help with buying new wood stoves, which will burn cleaner and more efficiently. This project will create green jobs, reduce fuel consumption, and improve air quality in communities by reducing the harmful pollutants that come from wood smoke.Â
G&K Services operates an industrial laundry that, among other services, washes and dries towels that have