By Sarah Sage
E-manifest, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national system for tracking shipments electronically, is set to go live at the end of June 2018. The e-Manifest requirements are effective in all states once the system goes live, including Washington.
What does this mean for generators, transporters, and receiving facilities?
Once the system goes live, receiving facilities will begin submitting all manifests (paper and electronic) to EPA.
Generators and transporters of dangerous waste will be able to create, edit, and sign their manifests electronically. They will also be able to view and print their own manifest copies and manifest status information.
Who will pay for this?
Receiving facilities will pay all fees associated with electronic manifesting.
However, receiving facilities may pass on the cost of the fees to their customers.
How much will this cost?
EPA will charge fees based on a sliding scale. Visit EPA’s website for more pricing information.
Using electronic manifests will be optional for the first few years. However, using paper manifests will be more expensive.
Where can I find more information about e-Manifest?
Visit EPA’s website for details and to keep updated on the latest developments.
By Rolfe Parsloe
Does your business use metal working fluid to machine parts? If so, Ecology needs your help collecting information about the metal working fluids used by the 800 machine shops in Washington. We've already heard from 150 machine shops throughout Eastern Washington, but we'd like to hear from Western Washington shops, too.
We hope to help machine shops choose products that don't designate as dangerous waste and are safer for workers. Our first step is to learn more about the metal working fluids you use — take our three-question survey.
We'll use the information you provide to create an anonymous list of products. We won't link any of the information we collect to any particular shop.
Chemicals and worker safety
It can be difficult to determine how safe the chemicals you use are for your employees. Many product Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) don’t provide comprehensive information about safety. And this incomplete information can make it hard to designate when those materials become waste.
We want to help businesses find safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals — learning more about the metal working fluids most commonly used in Washington will help us get started.
Learn more about methods for assessing the hazards of chemicals.
Learn more about the technical assistance Ecology specialists offer to help you prevent waste and pollution.
By Ken Grimm, Pollution Prevention Resource Center
Spray efficiency trainings are coming in 2018 to locations around Washington. Ecology and the Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC) have scheduled afternoon and evening sessions in three cities. The workshops will run from 1-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m., and will include dinner. Follow the links for address, directions, and registration info:
Join PPRC’s email list to stay up-to-date on upcoming training opportunities.
Who should attend these trainings?
Any workers applying paint or coating to metal, plastic, or wood: auto body shops, parts manufacturers, or cabinet manufacturers.
Check out the
Upcoming Events section of PPRC’s website for updated information on these and all workshops, including those currently in the planning stage.
Contact
Ken Grimm
206-352-2050 ext. 102
kgrimm@pprc.org
By Janna Ryan
Alliance employee Jerry Brightwell wipes down a steel sheet with DEVPREP 88.
Alliance Machine Systems International, LLC designs, manufactures, installs, and services corrugated box manufacturing machines. The company employs about 200 people in Spokane.
In 2014, Alliance started working to reduce waste “to be more environmentally friendly and reduce our costs of disposal,” said Brian Barnes, the company's vice president for manufacturing.
It worked — Alliance reduced their dangerous waste by more than 5,000 pounds per year.
How they made reductions
They decided to tackle paints first. One major challenge was that their customers like to choose custom colors. That resulted in leftover paint colors that didn’t get used. Alliance worked with their vendors to switch to a less-hazardous paint and change their ordering methods.
“We found that we could buy the amounts of paint needed for each machine,” Barnes said, so they end up with only a few ounces of paint left over.
Alliance uses solvents to clean their gun lines and paint pots. They installed two distillation units so they could recapture used solvents. This reduced both their dangerous waste and the amount of solvent they need to purchase.
They next looked at the acetone-soaked rags they used when cleaning and degreasing steel machine parts. According to Barnes, Alliance was spending over $14,000 per year to dispose of acetone-soaked rags. The rags were their largest waste stream by weight, and designated as dangerous waste for ignitability (D001).
Alliance contacted some vendors to find an alternative to acetone for cleaning steel. After testing several products, they chose to switch to a water-based cleaner, DEVPREP 88, which doesn’t designate as dangerous waste.
Safer for workers
“DEVPREP [88] is much more friendly to our employees as it is not an irritant to the eyes, lungs, and skin, plus it is not flammable like acetone,” Barnes explained. DEVPREP 88 is 80-90 percent water.
The benefits of being a small quantity generator (SQG)
In 2017, Alliance’s status changed from medium to small quantity generator. Any facility with dangerous waste is called a “dangerous waste generator.” Generators fall into three groups, based on how much waste they generate per month: small, medium, or large quantity generator.
Small quantity generators have fewer regulations to follow:
- No accumulation time limit.
- No Pollution Prevention Planning Fee.
- No Dangerous Waste Annual Report (unless the company has an active RCRA Site ID number).
- May transport their own waste.
Continual improvement
Alliance looks to further reduce the amount of dangerous waste they generate and increase the safety of chemicals they use. They now only use acetone for a few specific tasks and are considering laundering those rags (read more about
managing used shop towels). Alliance is also considering switching to water-based painting and other means to reduce or eliminate dangerous waste in their drive for continual improvement.