Process waste assessment guidance for pollution prevention planning.

摘要

The Kansas City Division (KCD) of Allied Signal Inc. has developed a comprehensive Pollution Prevention Program that focuses on the elimination or minimization of all material releases to all environmental media. One of the tools to achieve waste minimization goals is the process waste assessment (PWA). A PWA is a planned procedure with the objective of identifying opportunities and methods to reduce or eliminate waste. This document is a guidance used by the KCD to perform PWAs. A material balance is performed around a specific process which qualifies and quantifies the materials entering and exiting the process. These materials are further defined to the hazardous component level. The exiting materials are separated into what goes into the product, what is sent to waste management, and what is released to the air (fugitive or point source). Opportunities are identified and evaluated for the ability to eliminate or minimize the waste streams exiting the process. Therefore, the PWA provides the basic tool for the creation of a comprehensive process baseline and identification of opportunities to eliminate/minimize the release of hazardous and nonhazardous wastes. The PWA Guidance discusses each major step in the PWA process and provides a completed example for reference.