Reichhold Recovers Empty Drums Following Bridgeville Flooding; Also Recovers Other Companies' Drums.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- Reichhold, Inc. announced today that it has recovered what it believes are all of the empty steel drums which were swept off of its manufacturing site in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania during the recent (9/17) floods in Allegheny County.

A report in today's (9/21) Pittsburgh Post Gazette quotes a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson as saying that Reichhold lost over 200 steel drums of waste. That report is incorrect, according to Reichhold.

Reichhold has determined that fewer than 50 drums were swept from its site on September 17 and none of those drums contained "waste." In reality, the overwhelming majority of the containers lost from Reichhold's site were empty drums used for blending or storage and were empty because they were to be recycled. One of the recovered Reichhold drums contained a raw material used in the production of unsaturated polyester resins.

Drum Quantity Initially Over-Estimated

In compliance with hazardous materials reporting guidelines, Reichhold personnel initially notified Allegheny Emergency Management and the Department of Environmental Protection that an undetermined number of drums of both raw materials and manufactured resins might have been swept over Reichhold's fences by the flood waters, putting the number between 100-200. That initial estimate turned out to be greatly over-estimated.

Drums Recovered by Reichhold

Reichhold and local emergency management personnel worked with Reichhold's emergency response contractor for hazardous materials, SPSI (Specialized Professional Services, Inc.) to identify and recover the missing drums by Sunday morning (9/19).

Not only did Reichhold recover its own empty drums, the company also recovered approximately 35 drums from other chemical manufactures upstream of Reichhold.

Reichhold manufactures resins for the composites and graphic arts markets on an 52-acre site at 1000 Presto-Sygan Road in Bridgeville.

Reichhold, with its world headquarters and technology center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA, is, together with its parent, Dainippon Ink & Chemicals (Tokyo, 4631) the world's largest manufacturer of unsaturated polyester resins and a leading coating and performance resins for the automotive, appliances, coatings, plastics, textile, construction, transportation, marine and graphic arts markets.

Reichhold has manufacturing operations throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Founded in 1927, Reichhold's parent, Dainippon Ink & Chemicals (Tokyo, 4631) is also the world's largest producer of printing inks.