Questions to Evaluate Your Waste Management Costs

Its hard to evaluate your waste management costs if you don't know what questions to ask. I've provided a few below. Try them out in your shop and see if you can't find a way to retain more of your profits. If I can help out, please contact me via eMail from the link above or below: 

1. Is paint waste dumped into a large barrel to be hauled away instead of being cooked out in astill? (dry still bottoms can be tested and their disposal negotiated with local landfills or incinerators under Conditionally-exempt Small Quantity Generator (CESQG) regulations 261-5.

2. Is the still the right size for the shop operation or is operating your spray booth for 12 hours a day producing more paint waste than your still can efficiently cook out? (a 50/50 mix of paint waste and thinner waste will enable your still to cook your paint waste more efficiently)

3. Does your shop own its solvent recycler or is it leased/serviced by an outside company?

4. What is the shop spending per month on replacement thinner?

5. Have the shop's filters and shop/vac sander dust been subjected to TCLP testing to see if they truly are hazardous waste? (shop dust is tested due to sanding off e-coats that contain lead) .

6. Does the paint shop wait until painting performance is compromised to change out their spray booth filters because it's so costly to have them hauled away by a commercial recycler/transporter? (some commercial recycling companies charge to remove used spray booth filters, then sell them to rotary cement kiln operators to be used as fuel).

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