Hazardous Waste Reducation In The Metal Finishing Industry

"From the Foreword: " This book presents the results of a waste audit study for the metal finishing industry. The study, carried out for the State of California but applicable for metal finishers elsewhere, identifies opportunities for waste reduction available to the metal finishing industry and develops procedures that can be used by metal finishers to assess their own waste reduction opportunities. The study emphasizes technologies available to small- and medium-sized metal finishing plants. Typically, these shops operate a variety of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Chemical processes include degreasing, cleaning, pickling, etching, coating, and electroless plating. Electrochemical processes include plating and anodizing. The tasks included in the study were: (1) selecting metal finishing plants to include in the study, (2) performing a waste audit at each selected plant, (3) developing recommendations for implementing waste reduction technologies at each audited plant, (4) discussing with facility representatives the feasibility of implementing the waste reduction recommendations, and (5) developing this waste audit study report and methodology. The study identifies three categories of waste reduction technologies that are available to metal finishers: (1) source reduction, (2) recycling and resource recovery, and (3) alternative treatment. The costs associated with implementing these technologies range from a few hundred dollars for making simple improvements in housekeepiing and minor process modifications to tens of thousands of dollars for installing recovery or treatment units. The benefits realized from implementing such improvements include reductions inmaterial purchase and waste disposal costs, as well as reduction in the liability