UPDATED: 5/5/97

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR

PRINT SHOPS AND SILK SCREEN SHOPS

Best management practices can be thought of as using "good housekeeping"

practices. Listed below are several procedures to operate your facility

and minimize risk of contamination to the environment.

Solvents

1. Inks, solvents, spent solvents and solvent mixtures are hazardous

materials and must properly be disposed of by an approved

hazardous waste hauler, recycled by a permitted recycler or

distilled and recycled using a solvent recovery unit at your

facility. Inks may contain hazardous solvents such as xylene,

ketones and alcohols . Cleaning solvents may include methanol,

toluene, naphtha, trichloroethane and methylene chloride.

a. In all cases where a hazardous waste is produced, a permitted

hazardous waste transporter must be used to transport the

waste to a federally approved hazardous waste disposal or

treatment facility. Hazardous waste manifests must be kept

at your facility, available for review. The facility

generating the hazardous waste is required to obtain an

Environmental Protection Agency identification number unless

classified as a conditionally exempt generator by contacting:

Notification Coordinator

Bureau of Waste Planning and Regulation

Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection

Twin Towers Office Building, Room 471

2600 Blair Stone Road

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400

(904) 488-4805

b. If the waste solvent is recycled by the facility generating

the waste, the solvent stillbottoms from the reclaiming

operation must be collected and handled as hazardous, unless

proven otherwise.

c. If the waste solvent is recycled by a permitted solvent

recycler, receipts must be obtained from the recycler and

copies kept at your facility.

Waste disposal

1. Rags used during equipment repairs or cleaning processes

which become contaminated with oil or hazardous materials

such as solvents, ink, etc. are considered hazardous wastes

and may be handled by an approved rag service or an approved

hazardous waste transporter. Used rags must not be disposed

of in the trash/dumpster unless a hazardous waste profile

indicates otherwise and approval is granted by this

department. In order to minimize the amount of solvent and

ink on rags, excess ink should be removed with a scraper or

spatula before wiping with shop towel. Unused ink can be

placed back in the original container.

2. Waste printing solutions and sludges must be disposed of as

hazardous waste. Waste ink may be recycled or must be

disposed via hazardous waste hauler.

3. Sawdust or other absorbent material used to collect spills

must be disposed of properly. If the material being cleaned

up with the absorbent is a hazardous waste, the absorbent

must also be disposed of as a hazardous waste.

4. Empty ink cans may be placed in the dumpster and disposed of

in a local sanitary landfill only by first removing any

remaining product, and triple rinsing the container. The

rinsewater must be collected and disposed of with the

hazardous waste. Additionally, cans may be wiped clean with a

rag after all excess is removed. The rags must be properly

disposed off. Empty solvent containers may be disposed of by

punching holes in the empty container and placing in the

dumpster. These containers must be completely empty before

disposal.

5. Wastewater from printing press rollers or silk screens can be

discharged to sanitary sewers only if sewer standards are

met. In areas served by septic tank this wastewater must be

disposed via a hazardous waste hauler.

6. Receipts for the disposal of waste and/or wastewater must be

maintained on site for a period of no less than 3 years and

available for inspection.

7. Hazardous waste manifests must be kept for any hazardous

waste disposal.

8. All waste drums/containers must be properly labeled. If

waste is hazardous is must be labeled with the words

"hazardous waste", name of waste, type of hazard and

accumulation date if applicable.

Stormdrains

1. Special attention should be paid to storm drain locations.

Storm drains are designed to help alleviate rainwater. These

drains are not connected to the sanitary sewer system, but

rather discharge to the ground and groundwater. Therefore,

no discharges other than rainwater, are to go to these storm

drains. These areas should be kept free of all contaminates

to prevent spillages into these drains.

Storage

For storing large amounts of chemicals and/or fuels:

1. All chemicals and fuel storage areas must be contained within

an impervious bermed or walled area capable of containing

110% of the volume of the largest single storage tank within

the secondary containment area.

In large storage areas, there must be aisle space between storage products. This will enable inspection of the container for leaks and/or corrosion. Incompatible chemicals or materials should be stored separately.

***For facilities with photochemical processing equipment***

1. Film processing waste solutions may be disposed of to

sanitary sewer after silver recovery has taken place, if

sewer standards are met. If not served by sanitary sewers,

film processing solutions must be collected and disposed of

by an approved hauler. This waste cannot be discharged to

septic tank, with or without pretreatment.

2. Slide processing using ferricyanide (or other cyanide based

products) bleach requires pretreatment of the slide

processing wastewater prior to discharged to sanitary sewers.

This wastewater may not be discharged to sanitary sewer

without pretreatment. This waste cannot be discharged to

septic tank, with or without pretreatment.

3. Silver recovery units must be used. These units will remove

silver from waste processing solutions. Silver is classified

as a toxic metal by EPA and as such must not be discharged to

sanitary sewers in excess of allowable limits. This waste

cannot be discharged to a septic tank, with or without silver

recovery.

a. Several types of silver recovery units exist. The most

common are electrolytic, metallic replacement and ion

exchange units. They my be used separately or in

combination however the electrolytic unit alone will not

suffice. Equipment maintenance is very important in

order to insure that they unit is working properly.

All print, silkscreen and/or photographic processing facilities are required to have an Annual Pollution Control Operating Permit.

Questions will be answered by the Industrial Facilities Section at

372-6600.