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BAKING PAN COMPANY MAKES ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTANTS

Release Date: 08/13/1996
Contact Information: Frank McIntyre, EPA-New England Press Office; (617) 918-1095

BOSTON--Ekco/Glaco Limited Partnership and EK Management Corporation have agreed to install pollution control equipment at their metal products coating facility in Worcester, Mass., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The new equipment will reduce the company's emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to levels below those required under the federal Clean Air Act. Ekco/Glaco and EK Management will also pay a fine of $10,000 for violations of the federal law.

Ekco/Glaco, headquartered in Humboldt, Tenn., coats and reglazes baking pans for bakeries. Federal and state regulations limit the number of pounds of VOCs allowed for every gallon of solids applied as coating to metal parts as a means to control air pollution. This level is set at 6.7 pounds of VOCs for each gallon of solids applied. According to EPA, Ekco was using a coating that when analyzed by the company emitted significantly higher amounts of VOCs than the allowable limit.

VOCs contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, or smog. Medical studies have shown that ozone damages lung tissue, and may cause inflammation and irritation of the respiratory tract.