Fact Sheet: Pollution Prevention: Strategies for the Printing Industry

Center For Hazardous Materials Research (CHMR)

The pollution prevention practices described here have been developed specifically for the printing industry and have been implemented in other printing facilities.

What is pollution prevention?

Pollution prevention is the reduction or elimination of discharges or emissions to the environment. This includes all pollution: hazardous and non-hazardous, regulated and unregulated, across all media, and from all sources. Pollution prevention can be accomplished by reducing the generation of wastes at their source (source reduction) or by using, reusing or reclaiming wastes once they are generated (environmentally sound recycling).

Each of the pollution prevention practices described in this fact sheet is an extension of the simple but powerful idea that it makes far more sense to eliminate the generation of waste than to develop complex and costly, treatment schemes once it has been generated.

Why practice pollution prevention?

Pollution prevention is good business. While most pollution control strategies cost money, pollution prevention has saved many firms thousands of dollars in treatment and disposal costs alone.

Many companies have already discovered the tremendous benefits of pollution prevention. The 3M Co.'s "Pollution Prevention Pays" Program has eliminated the annual generation of more than 500,000 tons of pollutants. Cumulative savings since the program began in 1975 are estimated at $426 million.

Smaller companies can also benefit. One firm reduced its hazardous waste disposal costs by 74% and decreased raw material costs by 16%.

By reducing or eliminating wastes a firm can:

How do we get started?

A systematic approach will produce better results than piecemeal efforts. An essential first step is a comprehensive waste audit. The waste audit should systematically evaluate opportunities for improved operating procedures, process modifications, process redesign and recycling.

To conduct a waste audit, follow these steps:

Will pollution prevention work in the printing industry?

Printing firms are typically small businesses. Only four percent of printing firms have more than 100 employees. But printing is a chemical-intensive industry, and the cost of disposing of a wide variety of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes weighs heavily on these small firms. According to Department of Commerce figures, in 1988, the printing industry spent approximately $206 million on pollution control.

These costs provide printing firms with tremendous incentive to find ways to reduce the generation of waste.

The volume or toxicity of each type of waste produced by the printing industry may be reduced by techniques including recycling, source reduction, or product substitution.

Trash and Recyclable Waste Paper

Waste paper is by far the kind of waste the printing industry produces most of .......... The volume of waste paper can be reduced through recycling, improved operating procedures, and equipment changes.

Some examples include:

Waste Lubricating Fluids from Machinery

Lubricating fluids used in most machinery must be changed periodically. The used fluids may be contaminated with hazardous materials, such as lead or cadmium. If they can't be recycled, they should be disposed of properly.

Segregate used oil from solvents or other materials.

Recycle used oil or burn for energy in accordance with applicable regulations.

Waste Chemicals, Inks, and Solvents

Certain printing processes produce waste chemicals, inks or solvents. The following methods can reduce the volume or toxicity of these wastes:

Equipment Cleaning Wastes

Waste generated during the cleaning of presses and other equipment includes waste inks, solvents, dirty rags, filters, and absorbents. To reduce these wastes:

Process Wastewaters

Certain printing processes produce waste chemicals and wastewater. The following methods can reduce the volume or toxicity of these wastes:

This fact sheet should only be considered an introduction to pollution prevention. Since new ideas are introduced every existing, pollution prevention practice. Mention of a specific practice should not be considered an unqualified endorsement, and not every practice is suitable for every facility.

Who's going to do it?

Pollution prevention requires a new attitude about pollution control. Traditional thinking places all the responsibility on a few environmental experts in charge of treatment. The new focus makes pollution prevention everyone's responsibility. Preventing pollution may be a new role for production-oriented managers and workers, but their cooperation is crucial. It will be the workers themselves who must make pollution prevention succeed in the workplace.

Management commitment and employee participation are vital to a successful pollution prevention program. Management can demonstrate its commitment to pollution prevention and encourage employee participation by:

Additional Information

  1. Hazardous Waste Minimization Manual for Small Quantity Generators, Second Edition, Center for Hazardous Materials Research, 320 William Pitt Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15238, 1989. (Call 800-334-CHMR)

  2. Prof-it from Pollution Prevention, Monica Campbell and William Glenn, Pollution Probe Foundation, 12 Madison Avenue, Toronto, Canada, M5R 2S 1, 1982.

  3. The EPA Manual for Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessments, Hazardous Waste Engineering Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, EPA-625/7-88/003, August 1988.

Further Pollution Prevention Information

Center For Hazardous Materials Research (CHMR)
320 William Pitt Way
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
(800) 334-CHMR
(412) 826-5320

James Hemby
Pollution Prevention Program
U.S. EPA Region III
841 Chestnut Building
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 597-9800

Greg Hader
Division of Waste Minimization and Planning
PA Department of Environmental Resources
PO Box 2063
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717) 787-7382

American Institute of Graphic Arts
1059 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 752-0813

American Newspaper Publishers Association
The Newspaper Center
11600 Sunrise Valley Drive
Reston, VA 22091
(703) 620-9500

Graphic Arts Technical Foundation
4615 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 3796
(412) 621-6941

National Association of Printers and Lithographers
780 Palisade Avenue
Teaneck, NJ 07666
(201) 342-0700

The Center for Hazardous Materials Research (CHMR) is a non-profit subsidiary of the University of Pittsburgh Trust, and is a non-regulatory organization. Its mission is to assist in developing and implementing practical solutions to the technical, environmental, economic, and health problems associated with hazardous and solid waste. For more information on this and other CHMR publications call (800) 334-CHMR.


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Last Updated: January 9, 1996