TCE is a grease-removing solvent used on machined metal parts

Evidence

On the lawn, beneath a young maple tree, there was a picnic table. Schlichtmann could see several employees in tan uniforms moving among the loading docks around the side of the building. From the EPA report, Schlichtmann knew only that this plant made stainless-steel equipment for the food-packaging industry. Trichloroethylene was a solvent used mainly for removing grease from machined metal parts. To Schlichtmann, it stood to reason that a plant such as this one would use TCE. He wondered if any of those men in uniforms were using TCE today. And just how did they dispose of it? He would have liked to speak to one of those men, or to walk into the plant and ask for a tour, but he couldn’t, of course. — , Harr Jonathan - A Civil Action, 341

Categorization

• DEFINE: Supplies the practical definition of trichloroethylene — what the whole case is about, traceable to degreasing stainless-steel food equipment.
• QUESTION: What actually happened to the spent solvent at that plant — and did any worker ever say?