Fact Sheet: Waste Minimization in the Workplace
Virginia Waste Minimization Program
Vol. 1 Issue 16
A Fact Sheet from the Virginia Waste Minimization Program on
waste minimization in the workplace.
Waste Minimization in the Workplace
Manufacturing processes produce hazardous waste. there is no
getting around it. However, responsible companies in Virginia and around the
country are working toward reducing the amount of hazardous waste they generate.
By using the most up-to-date technology as well as "common sense" strategies to
reduce waste in the workplace, these companies are able to:
- Protect human health and the environment
- Comply with state and federal regulations
- Take the lead in corporate waste minimization
programs
- Avoid the cost and. liability of handling and storing
hazardous wastes.
For some businesses that generate small amounts of hazardous
waste, good operating practices can result in significant reductions in waste
generation without the high cost of some technological approaches. Both of these
types of waste reduction strategies are listed below.
Mate: Receiving
- Inspect shipments for open, damaged, or leaking
containers.
- Check expiration dates.
- Test for off-specification materials.
- Accept only properly labeled containers.
Raw Material and Product Storage
- Keep storage areas well lighted and clean.
- Make sure that electrical circuitry is properly
insulated.
- Check for corrosion and sparking.
- Keep metal drums raised off of the floor to prevent
sweating.
- Space containers to allow for inspection.
- Segregate chemicals to prevent chemical
reactions.
- Keep aisles clear of obstruction.
- Stack containers no higher than recommended by
manufacturer.
- Don't store equipment against containers.
Container Management and Disposal
- Return empty containers to the supplier.
- Accept empty containers from your
customers.
- Remember -
Containers that are wider than tall have less azardous
cling. so changes in size and shape of the container may reduce waste
generation.
Material Tracking and Inventory Control
- Effectively track the shelf life of time-sensitive
materials.
- Maintain proper storage conditions.
- Label all containers with product name, weight, lot number
and appropriate DOT hazard symbols and any other information that assists in
tracking material location. quality, age or use.
- Buy only what you are going to use.
- Use materials before their expiration date.
- Identify non-hazardous substitutes.
- Look for substitute materials with longer shelf
lives.
- Work with vendors to allow acceptance of unopened or expired
raw materials.
- Use waste exchanges for off-specification
materials.
- Inventory and trace all raw materials.
- Purchase fewer toxic and more non-toxic production
materials.
- Implement employee training and management
feedback.
- Improve material receiving, storage, and handling practices.
Equipment Operation and Production Scheduling
- Check for empty containers; spill residues; and leaking
tanks, chemical reactors. pipes, valves and hoses.
- Properly maintain and operate process equipment to prevent
the production of off-specification products, excess or spent process
materials and solutions, unused additives, and catalysts.
- Check pipes for leaks at seams, pump seals, and flange
gaskets.
- Install overflow and rupture disks and relief
valves.
- Use all welded piping construction, flange guards, double
seals and bellows-sealed valves.
- Test containers periodically.
- Use secondary containment.
- Install equipment that produces minimal or no
waste.
- Modify equipment to enhance recovery or recycling
options.
- Redesign equipment or production lines to produce less
waste.
- mprove operating efficiency of equipment.
- Maintain strict preventive maintenance program.
Chemical Processes
Optimize chemical reactions by:
- Keeping the temperature of the product at the proper level.
- Check temperature control devices routinely.
- Checking mechanical agitators to ensure that proper operation
and mixing occur.
- Adjusting feed flow and purity controls.
Metal Parts Cleaning Plating and Surface Treating
- Reduce the use of solvent and water in cleaning.
- Replace solvent-based cleaners with aqueous cleaning
solutions--this action will also result in a reduction in air
emissions.
- Use greaseless or water-based binders to eliminate the need
to remove binders with caustic cleaners.
- Remove dragout by placing all parts in racks and place all
cavities face down to allow for rapid drainage.
- Allow enough time for parts to drain completely.
- Install dragout collection tanks or angled trays to return
solution drained from the product.
- Avoid excessive rinsing.
- Use fog rinsing to reduce rinsewater use.
- Use countercurrent rinsing to recycle dilute
solution.
- Prevent spillage by adding sideboards or splash
guards.
- Prevent loss of volatile solutions and solvents by locating
storage tanks away from sources of heat and by adding lids or chillers.
Stripping and Painting
- Replace solvents with abrasive media stripping. preferably
stripping that is recyclable, such as plastic beads: or use a water-based
cleaning solution.
- Use water-based paints.
- Institute a strong operator training program.
- Implement a strong product quality control
program.
- Avoid overspray by holding the gun level, setting controls
appropriately, and maintaining proper gun distance and speed.
- Replace high air pressure guns with low pressure guns or an
electrostatic system. Dip tanks are also a third alternative in some
cases.
- Isolate spray booths for solvent-based paints from those for
water base paints to prevent mixing.
- Emphasize quality control and pre-inspection to lower the
rejection rate resulting from inadequate pre-cleaning.
- Evaluate the scheduling of batches to maximize
efficiency.
- Avoid scheduling consecutive batches of products that react
with one another.
- If possible, dedicate production lines to the manufacture of
a single substance.
- Consider scheduling batch processes to make a full year's run
at one time.
- Schedule batches of similarly coated products
consecutively.
- Schedule dark batches after light batches.
Production Process Changes
- Substitute non-hazardous for hazardous raw
materials.
- Segregate wastes by type for recovery.
- Eliminate sources of leaks and spills.
- Separate hazardous from non-hazardous wastes.
- Redesign or reformulate end products to be less
hazardous.
- Optimize reactions and raw materials use.
Recycling and Reuse
- Install closed-loop systems.
- Recycle on-site for reuse.
- Recycle off-site for reuse.
- Exchange wastes.
Cleaning and Maintenance
Equipment Clean
- Schedule regular cleaning and maintenance to avoid product
contamination, remove deposits, maintain process efficiency.
- extend equipment life, and allow for inspection and
repair.
- Install corrosion-resistant pipes and vats to reduce the need
for frequent cleaning.
- Schedule jobs in batches to reduce the need for frequent
cleanings.
- Install high-pressure spray nozzles for tank
rinsing.
- Allow time for proper drainage prior to cleaning.
Preventive and Corrective Maintenance
- Visually inspect all process and storage tanks, including all
equipment attached to them, at least once a month.
- Monitor and test all discharges from internal heating and
cooling coils quarterly.
- Regularly calibrate and adjust all automatic process control
devices to increase productivity and prevent loss.
Waste Collection and Management Practices
- ALWAYS
label hazardous waste at its source while it can still be
easily identified.
- Prevent hazardous waste from contaminating non-hazardous
materials by keeping them from coming into contact with each
other.
- Isolate waste streams by toxicity, type of contaminant, or
physical form. By segregating waste this way, you may save substantially in
disposal, handling and/or transport costs. Waste segregation also allows for
easier material recovery and recycling.
- Set up manned collection centers to prevent unauthorized
mixing of wastes.
- In paint operations, segregate paint and solvent waste from
other trash.
- In printing operations, segregate cleanup toluene according
to color and type of ink cleaned, and then filter and reuse the collected
wastes to thin future batches of the same ink.
- In metal-working operations, filter aluminum particles from
soluble oils so you can reclaim the aluminum and reuse the oil.
(This article was excerpted from materials prepared
by Coastal Video Communications, 3083 Brickhouse Court, Virginia Beach, VA
23452.)
This Waste Reduction Fact Sheet Is provided as a service of the
Virginia Waste Minimization Program, a technical assistance program of the
Virginia Department of Waste Management.
For more information on opportunities to reduce waste contact:
Virginia Waste Minimization Program
11th Floor Monroe
Building. 101 North 14th Street
Richmond. Virginia 23219
804-371-8716 or
1-800-552-2075
TDD 804-371-8737
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