Waste minimization in paint manufacturing units: environmental protection and cost saving

Abstract

Paint manufacturing wastes are mostly hazardous and toxic. The cost of proper treatment and safe disposal of these wastes is high. Implementing waste minimization management system reduces both waste generation and resource consumption. Furthermore it can result in environmental preservation and operational cost saving. The purpose of this study was evaluation of the effectiveness of waste minimization performance in the paint formulating industries. So we determined the amount of waste generation, raw materials usage, water and energy consumption in a paint manufacturing plant called” Rang Afarin” in Tehran, Iran. There were three major sources of waste in this factory: solid wastes, wastewater, and air pollutants. We focused on wastewater because according to our researches we found that the main waste in this plant is wastewater and we can reduce about 20% of generated wastewater at the plant. Also, results showed that by implementing waste reduction program, the amount of raw materials, energy, and water usage can reduce respectively down to 0.114%, 22%, 9.8%. The whole of these waste reduction equal to 87288$ saving in production costs annually. Waste minimization plays key role to achievement sustainable development and economic profits in industries.