Pollution Prevention Guidance Page - Links, Free Downloads and Interactive Guides to Reducing Toxicity & Waste

Pollution Prevention Guidance Page - Links, Free Downloads and Interactive Guides to Reducing Toxicity & Waste

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General Tips:

Avoid chlorinated organic solvents, cyanide compounds, and petroleum-based compounds when water-based substitutes exist.

Buy drainboards and drip pans to enhance drip reuse in process baths.

Choose closed-loop (i.e., fully enclosed) recycling designs to reduce wastes and worker exposures.

Decrease the frequency of painting and paint removal to minimal levels.

Ensure a neat work environment to prevent spills of toxic chemicals.

Foster a regular program of pollution prevention planning and auditing.

Give employees incentives to find new pollution prevention ideas.

Have and use covers for all containers holding fluids that evaporate.

Instruct employees in pollution prevention.

Just use storage tanks with secondary containment (i.e., double-walled tanks and a barrier around loading/unloading areas).

Keep track of toxic chemical inventories to ensure fewer containers on-site, thus minimizing spills, spoilage, and evaporation.

Label containers to prevent mistakes that could result in wastes requiring disposal.

Monitor and maintain the appropriate temperature for heated materials.

Never allow leaks to persist.

Only use sprays when absolutely necessary, since they waste chemicals through dispersion (e.g., paint overspray).

Preclean parts with physical methods (e.g., squeegees, rags) before using solvents.

Quit disposing of baths without checking bath quality, and restore quality through the use of non-toxic additives.

Reformulate or redesign products so fewer toxic chemicals are used in production processes.

Select continuous rather than batch processes whenever possible, to avoid start-up wastes.

Try redesigning processes so they require fewer toxic chemicals.

Use machines instead of manual methods where toxicity concerns exist and process precision would reduce wastes significantly (e.g., paint spraying).

Varnish and other coatings that are not essential should be avoided.

Wash parts only when absolutely necessary.

Xerox double-sided as often as possible.

Yield maximization is one goal, and...

Zero waste is the other.

By Lois Epstein, P.E.,
Environmental Defense Fund (Washington, D.C.)
May 1997, Version 1.4
Feel free to reproduce and post

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