BEST PRACTICES

Even when not required by environmental regulations, the following best practices are recommended.

In order to reduce the impacts of waste disposal on the environment and to reduce waste disposal costs, try to minimize the generation of hazardous waste. This can be done by the following:

1. To decrease the number of cleanings required for each press, dedicate presses to specific colors or special inks.
2. Dispose of solvents by sending them to a fuel blending service, which combines these and other wastes for burning at industrial boilers or kilns.
3. Clean ink fountains only when changing colors, or when there is a risk of ink drying.
4. Run similar jobs simultaneously to reduce waste volume.
5. Isolate inks contaminated with hazardous cleanup solvents from non-contaminated inks.
6. For rags and disposable wipers contaminated with solvents (if allowable, meaning, if not characteristically hazardous [ignitable -D001] and saturated, or if not a listed solvent) send them to laundry service. Check with your EH&S staff to see if this is acceptable.
7. Use organic solvent alternatives, such as detergent or soap, non-hazardous blanket washes, and less toxic acetic acid solvents wherever possible,
8. Squeegee or wipe surfaces clean before washing with solvent.
9. Implement inventory controls to avoid overstocking of inks, solvents, and other printing chemicals.

Training employees in proper procedures to reduce your facility's impact on the environment is a best practice. More detailed training information is provided in the regulatory requirements sections of the EVC. Employee training may include the following:

1. Spill response training for personnel who handle hazardous materials,
2. Right-to-know training to inform users of the dangers inherent to the hazardous materials being used, and
3. Hazardous materials management