Environmental research brief: Pollution prevention assessment for a manufacturer of automotive lighting equipment and accessories

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a Pilot project to assist small and medium-size manufacture who want to minimize their generation of waste but who lac the expertise to do so. In an effort to assist these manufacturers Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) we established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual. The WMAC team at the University of Tennessee performed an assessment at a plant that manufactures outboard motors for water craft. Three basic subunits received from other manufacturing plants undergo primarily painting and assembly operations in order to produce the final product. The team`s report, detailing findings and recommendations, indicated that paint overspray waste and spent clean-up solvent are generated in large quantities and that significant cost savings could be achieved by installing robotic paint application equipment. This Research Brief was developed by the principal investigators and EPA`s National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce key findings of an ongoing research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title available from University City Science Center