Pollution prevention assessment for a manufacturer of folding paperboard cartons

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a pilot project to assist small and medium-size manufacturers who want to minimize their generation of waste but who lack the expertise to do so. In an effort to assist these manufacturers Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) were established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual. The WMAC team at Colorado State University performed an assessment at a plant that manufactures folding paperboard cartons. Paperboard stock is cut to specific sheet sizes, printed using a six-color press, cut into carton patterns, folded, and glued. The assessment team`s report detailing findings and recommendations, indicated that waste paperboard is generated in large quantities, and that the most significant cost savings can be achieved through collection and reuse of step 1 solvent used in the printing system. 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