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Commitments and Contingencies | 6 Months Ended
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Mar. 01, 2025
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | 12. Commitments and Contingencies The Company and its operations are subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations governing, among other things, air emissions, wastewater discharges, and the generation, handling, storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes and other substances. In particular, industrial laundries currently use and must properly dispose of detergent wastewater and other residues, and, in the past, used perchloroethylene and other dry-cleaning solvents. The Company is attentive to the environmental concerns surrounding the disposal of these materials and has, through the years, taken measures to avoid their improper disposal. The Company has settled, or contributed to the settlement of, past actions or claims brought against the Company relating to the disposal of hazardous materials at several sites and there can be no assurance that the Company will not have to expend material amounts to remediate the consequences of any such disposal in the future. U.S. GAAP requires that a liability for contingencies be recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be reasonably estimated. Significant judgment is required to determine the existence of a liability, as well as the amount to be recorded. The Company regularly consults with attorneys and outside consultants in its consideration of the relevant facts and circumstances before recording a contingent liability. Changes in enacted laws, regulatory orders or decrees, management’s estimates of costs, risk-free interest rates, insurance proceeds, participation by other parties, the timing of payments, the input of the Company’s attorneys and outside consultants or other factual circumstances could have a material impact on the amounts recorded for environmental and other contingent liabilities. Under environmental laws, an owner or lessee of real estate may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of certain hazardous or toxic substances located on, or in, or emanating from, such property, as well as related costs of investigation and property damage. Such laws often impose liability without regard to whether the owner or lessee knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. There can be no assurances that acquired or leased locations have been operated in compliance with environmental laws and regulations or that future uses or conditions will not result in the imposition of liability upon the Company under such laws or expose the Company to third-party actions such as tort suits. The Company continues to address environmental conditions under terms of consent orders negotiated with the applicable environmental authorities or otherwise with respect to certain sites. The Company has accrued certain costs related to certain sites, including but not limited to, sites in Woburn and Somerville, Massachusetts, as it has been determined that the costs are probable and can be reasonably estimated. The Company, together with multiple other companies, is party to a consent decree related to the Company’s property and parcels of land (the “Central Area”) at a site in Woburn, Massachusetts. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) has provided the Company and other signatories to the consent decree with comments on the design and implementation of groundwater and soil remedies at the Woburn site and investigation of environmental conditions in the Central Area. The consent decree does not address any remediation work that may be required in the Central Area. The Company, together with other signatories, has implemented and proposed to do additional work at the Woburn site but many of the EPA’s comments remain to be resolved. The Company has accrued costs to perform certain work responsive to the EPA’s comments. Additionally, the Company has implemented mitigation measures and continues to monitor environmental conditions at a site in Somerville, Massachusetts. The Company has agreed to undertake additional actions responsive to a notice of audit findings from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection concerning a regulatory submittal that the Company made in 2009 for a portion of the site. The Company received in December 2024 an additional notice related to the scope of its ongoing environmental work at the Somerville site, and additional actions responsive to this notice may follow. The Company has received demands from the local transit authority for reimbursement of certain costs associated with its construction of a new municipal transit station in the area of the Somerville site. This station was part of an extension of the local transit system. The Company has reserved for costs in connection with this matter; however, in light of the uncertainties associated with this matter, these costs and the related reserve may change. The Company routinely reviews and evaluates sites that may require remediation and monitoring and determines its estimated costs based on various estimates and assumptions. These estimates are developed using its internal sources or by third party environmental engineers or other service providers. Internally developed estimates are based on: • Management’s judgment and experience in remediating and monitoring the Company’s sites; • Information available from regulatory agencies as to costs of remediation and monitoring; • The number, financial resources and relative degree of responsibility of other potentially responsible parties (“PRPs”) who may be liable for remediation and monitoring of a specific site; and • The typical allocation of costs among PRPs. There is usually a range of reasonable estimates of the costs associated with each site. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, the Company’s accruals reflect the amount within the range that it believes is the best estimate or the low end of a range of estimates if no point within the range is a better estimate. Where it believes that both the amount of a particular liability and the timing of the payments are reliably determinable, the Company adjusts the cost in current dollars using a rate of 3% for inflation until the time of expected payment and discounts the cost to present value using current risk-free interest rates. As of March 1, 2025, the risk-free interest rates utilized by the Company ranged from 4.51% to 4.55%. For environmental liabilities that have been discounted, the Company includes interest accretion, based on the effective interest method, in selling and administrative expenses on the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Income. The changes to the Company’s environmental liabilities for the twenty-six weeks ended March 1, 2025 were as follows (in thousands):
Balance as of August 31, 2024 |  | $ | 31,255 |
Costs incurred for which reserves have been provided |  |  | (1,215 | )
Insurance proceeds |  |  | 89 |
Interest accretion |  |  | 640 |
Changes in discount rates |  |  | (624 | )
Revisions in estimates |  |  | 733 |
Balance as of March 1, 2025 |  | $ | 30,878 |
Anticipated payments and insurance proceeds of currently identified environmental remediation liabilities as of March 1, 2025, for the next five fiscal years and thereafter, as measured in current dollars, are reflected below (in thousands):
|  | 2025 |  |  | 2026 |  |  | 2027 |  |  | 2028 |  |  | 2029 |  |  | Thereafter |  |  | Total |
Estimated costs – current dollars |  | $ | 13,264 |  |  | $ | 2,836 |  |  | $ | 1,527 |  |  | $ | 1,280 |  |  | $ | 997 |  |  | $ | 15,047 |  |  | $ | 34,951 |
Estimated insurance proceeds |  |  | (180 | ) |  |  | (195 | ) |  |  | (159 | ) |  |  | (173 | ) |  |  | (9 | ) |  |  | (230 | ) |  |  | (946 | )
Net anticipated costs |  | $ | 13,084 |  |  | $ | 2,641 |  |  | $ | 1,368 |  |  | $ | 1,107 |  |  | $ | 988 |  |  | $ | 14,817 |  |  | $ | 34,005 |
Effect of inflation |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 10,141 |
Effect of discounting |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | (13,268 | )
Balance as of March 1, 2025 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | $ | 30,878 |
Estimated insurance proceeds are primarily obtained from an annuity received as part of a legal settlement with an insurance company. Annual proceeds of approximately $0.3 million are deposited into an escrow account which funds remediation and monitoring costs for two sites related to former operations in Williamstown, Vermont. Annual proceeds received but not expended in the current year accumulate in this account and may be used in future years for costs related to this site through the year 2027. As of March 1, 2025, the balance in this escrow account, which is held in a trust and is not recorded in the Company’s accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets, was approximately $5.6 million. Also included in estimated insurance proceeds are amounts the Company is entitled to receive pursuant to legal settlements as reimbursements from three insurance companies for estimated costs at one of its sites. The Company’s nuclear garment decontamination facilities are licensed by respective state agencies, as delegated authority by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the “NRC”) pursuant to the NRC’s Agreement State program and are subject to applicable federal and state radioactive material regulations. In addition, the Company’s international locations (Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union) are regulated by equivalent respective jurisdictional authorities. There can be no assurance that such regulation will not lead to material disruptions in the Company’s garment decontamination business. From time to time, the Company is also subject to legal and regulatory proceedings and claims arising from the conduct of its business operations, including but not limited to, personal injury claims, customer contract matters, employment claims and environmental matters as described above. In addition, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, the Mexican federal tax authority issued a tax assessment on the Company’s subsidiary in Mexico for fiscal 2016 import taxes, value added taxes and custom processing fees of over $17.0 million, plus surcharges, fines and penalties of over $67.7 million for a total assessment of over $84.7 million. The Company challenged the validity of the tax assessment through an appeal process. In the first quarter of fiscal 2025, the Federal Tax Court in Mexico made a determination partially in the Company's favor. Following the Federal Tax Court’s determination, the Company filed a constitutional action before the Federal Administrative Court. In addition, the federal tax authority appealed the determination of the Federal Tax Court. While the Company is unable to ascertain the ultimate outcome of this matter, based on the information currently available, the Company believes that a loss with respect to this matter is neither probable nor remote. Given the uncertainty associated with the ultimate resolution of this matter, the Company is unable to reasonably assess an estimate or range of estimates of any potential losses. While it is impossible for the Company to ascertain the ultimate legal and financial liability with respect to contingent liabilities, including lawsuits and environmental contingencies, the Company believes that the aggregate amount of such liabilities, if any, in excess of amounts covered by insurance have been properly accrued in accordance with U.S. GAAP. It is possible, however, that the future financial position and/or results of operations for any particular future period could be materially affected by changes in the Company’s assumptions or strategies related to these contingencies or changes out of the Company’s control.

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