Sierra Club v. Cintas Corporation

Background: Cintas is a national chain industrial laundry service with a facility in Franklin, Wisconsin. Cintas discharges oil, grease and other pollutants that are waste by-products of the cleaning process into the publicly owned Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District (MMSD). MMSD must then treat the oil and grease prior to ultimately discharging the effluent to Lake Michigan or the Milwaukee River.

MMSD applies an oil and grease limit of 300 milligrams per liter to all industries that pre-treat waste before sending it to the MMSD system. Cintas violated this oil and grease limit on at least 33 days since February 2001. Oil and grease can clog MMSD sewer pipes, and during sewer overflows, the oil and grease may reach Lake Michigan untreated.

Cintas is one of five industrial laundries that discharge oil and grease to MMSD. However, Cintas was the only one that had not installed pretreatment technology. The other four industrial laundries have installed some form of technology for removal of oil and grease that has consistently put them in compliance with the oil and grease limit. Not only did Cintas’ non-compliance endanger the health of Wisconsin’s waters, it also gave Cintas an unfair economic benefit by avoiding the costs other businesses have to incur.

On December 30, 2003, MEA, on behalf of the Sierra Club, filed a complaint in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. This suit was filed under the Clean Water Act to prevent Cintas from continuing to discharge excess oil and grease. Cintas has had similar pretreatment violations at its other facilities around the country. Another environmental organization has filed a federal Clean Water Act lawsuit against Cintas in Federal Court in Louisiana.

Click here to review media on this case.

Click here to review the 60 day Notice Letter.

Status: In response to our lawsuit, Cintas agreed to install the equipment needed to significantly reduce pollution and pay $95,000 in penalties and fees, of which $47,200 will go to two non-profit environmental groups that are working to protect urban water resources in Milwaukee.

To read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on the settlement, click here.