Pollution prevention assessment for a manufacturer of electrical load centers

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a pilot project to assist small and medium-size manufacturers who want to minimize their generation of waste but who lack the expertise to do so. In an effort to assist these manufacturers Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) were established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual. The WMAC team at the University of Tennessee performed an assessment at a plant that manufacturers electrical load centers. Raw materials, including coiled sheet steel and coiled copper strips, polystyrene pellets, and miscellaneous fasteners, are used in metal-working, injection molding, painting, and assembly operations. The team`s report, detailed findings and recommendations, indicated that a large quantity of waste overflow rinse water is generated and that significant cost savings could be achieved by installing valves that will allow operators to turn off the flow during periods of nonuse. This Research Brief was developed by the principal investigators and EPA`s National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce key findings of an ongoing research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title available from University City Science Center