Richard J. Jendrucko

Pollution prevention assessment for a manufacturer of electroplated truck bumpers

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 electroplated bumpers and miscellaneous parts for trucks. Steel and aluminum parts received from a nearby facility are cleaned, rinsed, etched, and electroplated. The team`s report, detailing findings and recommendations, indicated that a considerable amount of wastewater treatment sludge is generated from the onsite treatment of wastewater, and that significant waste reduction and cost savings could be achieved by reducing drag-out from the plating tanks. 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.