P
Packaging
Reusable Transport Packaging Directory Developed by the Office of Environmental Assistance, this directory lists manufacturers and suppliers of many types of reusable transport packaging.

Paint
Air Quality Rules Affecting Shops with Paint Spray Equipment I operate a body shop, what about air regulations for me?

K-Bar Saves Over $44,000 by Reducing Paint Waste and Burnoff Improved inspection of reject parts before stripping, increasing operator awareness and process changes save K-Bar $44,000 annually. And an upgraded paint system reduced reject parts by 50 percent.

Managing Paint Booth Filters Use the information in this fact sheet to get maximum performance from spray booth filters, evaluate filters to determine if they are hazardous and properly manage them.

Options for Old Paint and Paint-related Materials When no longer usable many materials painters work with are considered hazardous waste. Learn how to effectively reduce and manage these hazardous wastes including ignitable wastes, paints and paint thinners and toxic wastes with heavy metals.

Paint Paint waste can be reduced in a number of ways. Use the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Guide when purchasing paint for your business.

Paint & Ink Wastes Use the MPCA fact sheet Evaluating Paint and Ink Wastes to determine if your paint or ink waste is hazardous.

Paints and Coatings Resource Center The main function is to provide regulatory compliance and pollution prevention information to individual organic coating facilities, industry vendors and suppliers, federal, state and local agencies, academia, and other interested parties.

Resources for Minnesota's Coating Industry This two page checklist includes most of the resources available on the Painting & Wood Finishing pages on our Web site. Use this checklist to share the waste-related information available to Minnesota's coating industry.

Spray Gun and Equipment Cleaning System Suppliers Cleaning paint guns manually is time consuming, labor intensive, exposes workers to harmful solvents and paints, and can generate significant quantities of solvent waste. An alternative to tradition cleaning methods is an automatic cleaning system.

Spray Painting and Coating Waste Reduction Alternatives Opportunities for reducing waste exist throughout the coating process, from product design through manufacturing, coating and cleaning. This fact sheet discusses how businesses can incorporate waste reduction strategies into their coating processes to reduce or eliminate paint related wastes and emissions.

Wenger Corporation Saves Over $93,000 by Reducing Powder Paint Use and Rework Wenger Corporation decreased paint use by increasing transfer efficiency from 75 to 93 percent, saving over 12,000 pounds of powder and over $81,000 annually. Cost for rework has dropped by an estimated $12,500 annually.

Paint Filters
Paint Filters: Crenlo Saves Nearly $100,000 by Reducing Paint Filter Waste and Water Determine how to improve the efficiency of your paint filters. Using the research of a MnTAP intern, Crenlo reduced paint filter waste by 21 tons a year, saving $95,600 annually.

Paint Strippers
Paint Stripping: Reducing Waste & Hazardous Materials This fact sheet helps evaluate paint stripping methods, hazardous material alternatives and waste reduction options.

Paper
Printech Archive: Lithographic-Specific Discussion Learn about inks, fountain solution, paper, blanket and roller cleaners, silver recovery, plate making and use, binding and finishing, emissions calculations and permitting.

Particulate Contaminants
Get It Plated Right, Particulate Contamination on Part Surfaces Learn how oversights that cause particulate contamination of parts before plating can be a costly mistake.

Parts Washing
Aqueous Parts Cleaning Mineral spirits is a solvent commonly used for part cleaning. Although it is effective for cleaning, mineral spirits raise significant environmental and health concerns.

Aqueous Parts Washers for Small Operations Because aqueous parts washers use waterbased chemistries, they can be less hazardous to operate than petroleum solvent parts washers. This fact sheet describes the options available and has a list of suppliers.

Case Studies in Aqueous Parts Cleaning These case studies feature shops that have successfully switched from solvent to aqueous parts cleaning. These examples show that aqueous cleaners are capable of meeting the parts cleaning challenges in auto repair operations.

Managing Aqueous Parts Washers This fact sheet discusses aqueous parts washer wastes from units used for washing oily materials.

Managing Solvent-Based Parts Washers This fact sheet discusses petroleum and other organic-based parts washer wastes from units used for washing oily materials.

Parts Washing When choosing a parts cleaning system, shops need to evaluate both the cleaner and the parts washing equipment. Often cleaners and the wastes produced during parts cleaning pose exposure risks to the users, and in most instances, wastes produced during the parts cleaning process must be managed as hazardous.

PCBs
Use and Servicing of Equipment Containing PCBs This fact sheet contains information about using and servicing equipment containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Perchloroethylene
Alternative Aqueous Cleaning Systems for Dry Cleaners Wet cleaning as a viable alternative to traditional perchloroethylene dry cleaning methods. Discusses the emergence of wet cleaning among drycleaners.

Alternative Dry Cleaning Systems Many dry cleaners use alternative cleaning systems to meet customer needs and to protect the environment. MnTAP maintains the following list of dry cleaners using alternative dry cleaning systems solely as a service to Minnesota companies and citizens.

Dry Cleaner Alternatives to Reduce Waste and Emissions This fact sheet provides an overview of improved operating techniques, perc equipment upgrades and alternative cleaning systems that help cut costs by reducing perc use.

Dry Cleaning Equipment Upgrades Cut Costs and Reduce Perc How to utilize new technology to reduce perchloroethylene emissions.

Petroleum Solvents and Production Changes Replace Chlorinated Cleaning Solvents To eliminate 1,1,1-trichloroethane and CFC-113, Windings, Inc. converted two vapor degreasers to cold solvent dip tanks, constructed two stands for drying parts and changed operating procedures to eliminate the final stator cleaning step on 85 percent of the units it made. Note: Although production of both 1,1,1-trichloroethane and CFC-113 was banned in 1995, these process changes apply to other chlorinated solvents like trichloroethylene (TCE), methylene chloride and perchloroethylene (perc).

Wet Cleaning Systems in Minnesota Review the growing list of businesses that employ wet cleaning systems in their facilities.

Pesticides
Healthcare Without Harm Provides information to assist health care with pollution elimination. Topics covered include polyvinyl chloride, mercury, incineration, pesticides and pollution prevention.

Pharmaceuticals
Reducing Pharmaceutical Waste from Patient Care Settings
Hospitals are reporting 10-fold increases in costs for managing pharmaceutical waste. This fact sheet offers guidance on how to minimize the amount of unwanted or expired medication, including information on epinephrine, purchasing/inventory management and sample waste. Pharmaceuticals should not be disposed of down drains or toilets.

Phosphorus
Metal Phosphatizing Operations Metal phosphatizing operations are a large industrial source of phosphorus in wastewater. When companies minimize phosphorus discharge from these operations they save by reducing chemical and water use.

Phosphorus Management Planning Developing a Phosphorus Management Plan (PMP) will help you understand your wastewater treatment facility's (WWTF) influent and effluent phosphorus levels, and how those levels may be reduced, with potential cost savings. PMP Development Resources have been designed by MnTAP and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to make the phosphorus management planning process easier for all WWTF operators.

Phosphorus: Reducing Releases from Dairy Processing Facilities Dairy operations can be significant sources of phosphorus released to wastewater treatment plants. Cleaning production lines, scraping food preparation vats, cleaning and rinsing equipment, product lost to the drain and floor cleaning chemicals are all ways phosphorus enters the wastewater.

Phosphorus: Reducing Releases from Industrial Cleaning and Sanitizing Operations Many traditional cleaning chemicals use phosphorus components as active ingredients. Alternative low- and non-phosphorus cleaners are available to meet a wide variety of industrial cleaning needs.

Phosphorus: Reducing Releases from Meat Packing Operations Meat packing operations can be significant sources of phosphorus released to wastewater treatment plants. Cleaning and rinsing of equipment, product lost to the drain and floor, and cleaning chemicals are all ways phosphorus enters the wastewater.

Phosphorus: Reducing Releases from Poultry Processing Plants The poultry industry is a large contributor to Minnesota's agricultural economy with sales accounting for about seven percent of Minnesota's farm output. Poultry processing plants contribute large biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) loads, as well as total suspended solids (TSS) and phosphorus to wastewater. This fact sheet outlines a number of steps that can be taken to reduce poultry processing plant waste.

Plastic
Team Efforts and Good Housekeeping Help Plastics Manufacturer Cut Solid Waste STARTEX addressed its growing waste problem by establishing a waste reduction team that worked to identify the types, amounts and sources of solid waste generated, and to find ways to reduce it. The facility reduced its solid waste by 88 percent and saved $72,000 annually.

Plastic Film Scrap
Hood Flexible Packaging Saves $50,000 by Reducing Film Scrap With the help of a MnTAP intern, Hood Flexible Packaging eliminated 104,000 pounds of plastic scrap film waste.

Pollution
Pollution Prevention Consultants These companies provide pollution prevention consulting as part of their services. MnTAP maintains this list solely as a service to Minnesota companies. This may not be a complete list of available consultants and does not represent an endorsement by MnTAP.

Pollution Prevention Planning Developing plans to prevent pollution can help any business reduce waste and increase efficiency. The Minnesota Toxic Pollution Prevention Act (TPPA) states that most companies submitting an EPA Form R to the Minnesota Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Program must write plans for reducing the emissions of Form R chemicals. This page, including a link to the Minnesota Guide to Pollution Prevention Planning, can help companies comply with the TPPA and develop Pollution Prevention Plans.

Water Use Consultants These companies provide services to help reduce water use and wastewater volumes. MnTAP maintains the following list as a service to Minnesota companies. This may not be a complete list of available
consultants and does not represent an endorsement by MnTAP.

Polyfilm Scrap
Plastics Manufacturer Reduces Waste through Good Housekeeping and Recycling Startex of Lakeville, Minnesota, was able to reduce its solid waste by 88 percent and save $72,000 annually.

Polymer
North Dakota State University, Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials The Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials is currently the only academic program in the U.S. offering M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Coatings and Polymeric Materials Science.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Healthcare Without Harm Provides information to assist health care with pollution elimination. Topics covered include polyvinyl chloride, mercury, incineration, pesticides and pollution prevention.

Powder Coating

Ultra Image evaluated how to reduce raw material use in the powder coating application process.

Wenger Corporation Saves Over $93,000 by Reducing Powder Paint Use and Rework Wenger Corporation decreased paint use by increasing transfer efficiency from 75 to 93 percent, saving over 12,000 pounds of powder and over $81,000 annually. Cost for rework has dropped by an estimated $12,500 annually.

Process Fluids
Get It Plated Right, Dried-on Process Fluids and Fluid Combinations Films of dried-on process fluids interfere with the bonding of plating to part surfaces. This sheet shows how to avoid the problems associated with dried-on process fluids.