An Exploratory Waste Audit Study of the Oregon Automobile Dealership Industry to Develop a "model" Toxics Use and Hazardous Waste Reduction Plan PDF Download

Author: Mitchell K. Wang
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Automobile dealers
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The move from hazardous waste management to pollution prevention is viewed as a paradigm shift in American industry. Pollution prevention involves source reduction to reduce the amount of hazardous waste that is generated, and recycling of those wastes that cannot be prevented within the production process. The first piece of federal pollution prevention legislation was enacted in 1990. Subsequently, six states have passed similar laws that require industries producing hazardous waste to shift to less polluting practices. The Oregon Toxics Use Reduction and Hazardous Waste Reduction Act of 1989 requires businesses to develop and implement a hazardous waste reduction plan that reduces not only the amount of hazardous waste generated, but also the type and amount of materials classified as "toxic". Within the geographical region of Oregon, California, Washington, Alaska, and Idaho, only four studies exist that have researched waste reduction opportunities in the automobile industry. The purpose of this study was: 1) to determine the number of Small Quantity Hazardous Waste Generators within the Oregon automobile dealership industry, 2) to determine the amount of used radiator coolant and used crankcase oil that is generated by Oregon dealerships (two waste streams that are not being tracked by the regulatory community), 3) to compare the waste disposal practices of urban and rural facilities, and 4) to develop a "Model" Toxics Use Reduction and Hazardous Waste Reduction Plan to be used in regional training sessions. Based on a 74% rate of return (160 out of 215 dealerships), the results indicated that the gross quantities of the materials investigated (solvents, used oil, and used antifreeze) were greater in urban dealerships. These differences were not significant when quantities of material were standardized to the number of repair orders written. Urban dealerships generate 0.462 gallons of used oil per repair order written and rural dealerships generate 0.481 gallons. Urban dealerships also generate 0.209 pounds of hazardous waste for each repair order while rural dealerships generate 0.412 pounds. The data were used to develop a "Model" Toxics Use Reduction and Hazardous Waste Reduction Plan for this industry. The plan, which was published by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), provides dealerships and the entire automobile repair industry with a step by step guideline to comply with Oregon law in reducing the amount of toxic materials used and hazardous waste generated.