Document bBKB9vX8O7jqkE7qgMoY3Kadk

bcc: Mr. John Mason Mr. William B. Papageorge / V February 11, 1971 Mr. Bob Koebbe St. Loula Globe-Democrat 12th & Delias r Streets St. Louis, Missouri 63101 Dear Bob: Aa you suggested, I am sending you what I know about our new incinerator via this letter. Feel free to come back at us with any questions you eight have. Since your story may appear in Chemical Week or Electrical World. we appreciate your interest and hope the article will be an additional service to our customers in alerting them to the availability of recycling and disposal equipment for polychlorinated biphenyls. Let me lead off by correcting a few glaring errors in the telex you received rom Lepkowski. First, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) is not a highly poisonous material. When dlecussing toxicity, you have to ask yourself the question: Toxic to whom or what7 By comparison to PCB, the following arc highly toxic materials -- iodine, lye, gasoline, insecticides, paint thinner, lighter fluid, end various household cleaning compound*. More important, PCS is not a household product. It is an industrial product used in heavy-duty electrical equipment. PCB haa never required a danger or poison or toxic label wheo shipped in in tar state coamerce. The label does caution against getting the material in the eyes or on the skin. It also goes one step further and says: "This product contains polychlorinated biphenyls, which some studies have shown may be an environmental contaminant. Extreme cere should be taken to prevent any entry into the eniiromeot through spills, leakage, use, disposal, vaporization or otherwise." DSV\f 281953 STLCOPCB4063281 Mr. Koebte 2 February 11, 1971 Shipping i.storically have been used to protect people, I think it i* rirnificant that Monsanto has voluntarily added a message of rgr.rr:. on to shippers and customers, which also protects ore srvorronment. The reference or. ILepkowski's telex to "concentrating PCBs to bulk" prcoarly- refers to our new method of return via tank truck. Previously, ^ererial had been returned only in sealed, heavy-duty drnsae. Sow customers may accumulate the spent fluid and return it tc larger quantities, thus reducing shipping costs. The product ice literally reduced in size, but simply may be returned i_r ~ r-g?;- quantities. Enough for tra* prologue -- now to the incinerator story. Yes, we ere ~ni- -ng an incinerator located at our William G. Krummrlcfc Flanr: ur Sauget, 111. It is presently under construction and should :* ~irushed about mid-year. The physical gxnixment was designed and built by an outside contractor. 1 seinerstand it was built with "off-the-shelf" hardware arse crew technology is well-known. The burner is of a special dm*ri yrr true this has nothing to do with disposal of PCB. The builder Eaaerently thought it was the best available. As you say r~vrm , trie major use of PCB has been as a coolant in electrical crat.rKtzarmers. In most cases, the fluid is put into the transfcrrTjeT and it stays there for up to 20 years, or longer. These "closses--system" uses are such that we can work closely with our curtain in the proper handling and disposal of the fluids. For At if some fluid spills on the floor accidentally, it should oe proper up with rags and the rags returned to us for disposal alagg nrc any spent fluids which might have been drained out of oIoft --t!~~ psnent. When the spent ciS arrives, we have two choices: 1) Recycle it (clean it or; and put it back into service, or 2) dispose of it. The inc fner-emr :_e a special, high-temperature design which breaks dewt crrT:-rrmeted biphenyls into harmless materials, mainly hydrochloric acot, which is scrubbed out of the waste gas stream, neutralized ant pesssed through our waste treating facilities. dSmM 281954 STLCOPCB4063282 Mr. Koebbe (/ 3 February 11, 1971 Cost to the customer is 3 cents per pound plus the cost of the container and freight charges. After the incinerator is operating, and we can accumulate cost data, we may be able to reduce the 3-cent figure even further. This is a break-even (service to customers) operation for us. Cost of the incinerator is approximately $500,000. It has a rated capacity of 10 million pounds per year. We are currently stockpiling PCB at the Krummrich plant and now have about one million pounds on hand. As I said earlier, our customers are also accumulating spent fluids for return in bulk shipments. Since you indicated you had no knowledge of the incinerator or PCB issue, I am sending along our news release of July 16 which outlines Monsanto's program. Youlll note that construction of the incinerator is one of the final steps in our "PCB environmental protection program." Thanks again. Bob, for your interest. If you have any further questions, please give me a call at 694-2891. Sincerely, /tw Enclosure Edward V. John Public Relations Manager Organic Chemicals Division DSW 281955 STLCOPCB4063283