TO BULK OR NOT TO BULK: FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN DECIDING ON DISPOSITION OF LATEX PAINTS COLLECTED BY HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE PROGRAMS

摘要

Household Hazardous Waste Program managers have choices when it comes to the handling of latex paint cans: open paint containers and create 55-Gallon drums of bulked paints, or ship the containers to a specialized off-site facility for processing. This paper will provide a method for decision-makers to compare options and costs. The managers of existing and new HHW collection programs face many challenges. Not the least of these challenges is how to handle latex paints. Latex paint constitutes a significant portion of the materials collected by many programs (over 20% in California and Minnesota). Therefore the handling of collected paints is an important aspect of the program that affects many things including; space, personnel, recycling options, and perhaps most importantly, cost. It may be tempting to calculate costs using a simplified approach. For example, if the cost to send paint in original containers to an offsite facility is $2.00 per one-gallon can, or $3.03 per gallon (if the cans are 66% full) and the cost to ship a bulked 55-gallon drum is $150.00, or $3.00 per gallon, it appears that a program may save money by bulking the paint in-house. Unfortunately the simplified view does not take into consideration many other costs and factors. For example, labor, containers, transportation costs, as well as space utilization, and final disposition of the paint. The true costs to bulk should be carefully calculated prior to making a decision. It may be a clearly better decision to send the original cans to a facility that is dedicated to latex paint recycling. The best method for one county may be different from a neighboring county. Or perhaps a combination of bulking and shipping original containers may make sense.