Pollution prevention possibilities for small and medium-sized industries: Analysis of the WRITE projects

This paper summarizes the results of the Waste Reduction Innovative Technology Evaluation Program (WRITE), an EPA pilot program with six (6) states and one (1) local government, to identify priority needs at the respective government level, find promising waste minimization technologies and perform an evaluation to determine performance, pollution prevention (P2) impact and costs. The research concentrated on environmental problems and P2 opportunities for small to medium-sized industries, technology at pilot- or full-scale, and use of voluntary business/state/EPA partnerships. A total of 41 technologies were tested and evaluated. The types of industries and processes included were coating, depainting, electronics, metal plating and finishing, painting, surface cleaning, steel and a number of miscellaneous categories. Many of the technology applications evaluated were able to list cost savings coupled with reduced or eliminated waste streams. It was found that technology benefits are largely application specific. However, favorable (or even unfavourable) findings for one application can be useful as a beginning for estimating other beneficial uses.