Whether or not a metal plating shop implements a cleaner production technology will depend on a wide variety of technological, financial, and cultural factors. This section lists both incentives and barriers for a plating shop investigating the implementation of cleaner production technologies.

INCENTIVES

There are numerous incentives for a metal plating shop to investigate and adopt cleaner production technologies, including:

• potential decrease in regulatory burden
• significant cost savings due to reduced operating costs and possible elimination of some or all toxic chemicals used
• improved rapport with regulators and community or environmental activists, through good publicity for "clean operations" and
• types of cost savings that are harder to quantify (e.g. improved worker health and reduced safety risks)

Some of these incentives are discussed below.

1. Avoidance of Regulation. Many plating shops are eager to explore technology options that would allow them to avoid regulations.

Example: As a result of cleaner production technologies that it adopted in its plating processes, the Robbins Company, a jewelry manufacturer located in Attleboro, Massachusetts, no longer has to report chemical usage under TURA or chemical releases under EPCRA.²⁰ These changes reduced Robbins' regulatory compliance costs (chemical recordkeeping expenses, TURA fees, etc. These technologies included installation of a reverse osmosis system to treat waste water and elimination of the use of chlorinated solvents. (See Appendix for a case study of the Robbins Company.)

2. Cost Savings. Most cleaner production technologies would lower shops' operating costs while also reducing regulatory burden. Many technological alternatives would also reduce or eliminate expenditures for the purchase of toxic chemicals.

Example: The Lowell Corporation, a machine shop in West Boylston, Massachusetts, added a dead-water rinse tank, drip boards, and a drain rack to its zinc phosphating line in order to minimize its losses of zinc while permitting some reuse of phosphating solution. By cutting Lowell's zinc discharges by two thirds, the production line change (which had nominal material and labor costs) saved the shop $26,000 annually.²¹ (See Appendix for a case study of the Lowell Corporation.)

3. Public Relations. Cleaner production could garner positive media attention for a "good neighbor" plating shop.

Example: A front-page story in a local newspaper lauded Circle Finishing Corp., a metal plating shop in Newburyport, Massachusetts, for saving approximately $10-15,000 annually through cleaner production modifications that reduced the quantity and toxicity of chemicals used at the shop.²²

4. Reduced Worker Exposure. The decrease in toxic chemical use and release that would result from implementing cleaner production technologies would reduce workers' occupational health risk and shops' potential liability for worker injury.

Example: After Smith and Wesson replaced 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) with an aqueous cleaner in the cold degreasing operations at its Springfield, Massachusetts facility, workers no longer experienced dizziness from breathing evaporating solvent vapors (nor the whitening of hands caused by TCA's defatting effect).²³ (See Appendix for a case study of Smith and Wesson.)

Sectors - Metal Finishing