Effective Environmental Programs with Tangible Results

Environmental issues are a major factor for everyone involved in the metal finishing industry and they impact organizations differently, depending on the processes used and the type of project. The metal finishing industry has a history of working with the EPA and, in 2003, was selected as a partner in EPA's Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation's (OPEI) Sector Strategies Program.

Sector Strategies is an outgrowth of the National Metal Finishing Strategic Goals Program (SGP), a voluntary program that encourages companies to adopt baseline environmental standards above and beyond official compliance regulations.

One approach of the Sector Strategies Program is to encourage and assist businesses in developing Environmental Management Systems (EMS). An EMS is a team of individuals from within a company that work with guidelines supplied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An EMS can help a company prioritize their environmental issues, identify problem areas, develop solutions and improve compliance. An EMS can also help businesses cut costs and make them eligible for state and federal regulatory compliance funds.

Partnership Achievements

The Sector Strategies Program is involved with several regulatory developments important to metal finishers and includes: the RCRA F006 exclusion and metals reclamation proposed rule, the NPDES Pretreatment Streamlining final rule and the Area Source NESHAP projects.

The parent program, National Strategic Goals, was the first sector-based voluntary performance program. Over 500 firms in more than 20 states have participated and AST was a charter member. Another important accomplishment included in the program is the RCRA final rule to extend allowable F006 sludge storage time to 180 days.

According to the EPA, as of 2002, sludge shipments to landfills were reduced by 2.5 million pounds. Wastewater was lowered by 2.08B gallons and metals to water by 251K pounds. Organic chemical releases were reduced by 5.3 million pounds.

To learn more, visit the industry trade associations involved with environmental activities. The associations are knowledgeable about the Sector Strategies Program and EMS developments:

American Electroplaters and Surface Finishers Society
Metal Finishing Suppliers Association
National Association of Metal Finishers

AST is one of a very small percentage of plating shops in the country that has gained ISO 14001 certification. ISO 14001 is an Internation Standard for environmental systems and performance similar to ISO 9001 which is an Internation Quality Standard. AST is also ISO 9001 certified.