Maybe you are a business owner, plant manager, or facility engineer and it is your responsibility to deal with the wastewater or spent machine coolant that is generated by your manufacturing process. You think to yourself, “I am just going to have someone haul it away and be done with it!” Think again!
The EPA’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) has a “Cradle-to-Grave” rule stating that generators of hazardous waste are ultimately responsible for controlling the substances that they produce. The minute you wash down a fork truck battery or open a can of solvent you are a hazardous waste generator. According to this rule, the generator is responsible for the waste even after it has left their facility.
Some companies have paid waste haulers to take their wastewater away only to find out that the hauler was intentionally allowing the waste to slowly leak out as they drove down the highway, dumping it in a desolate field or pouring it down an abandoned mine shaft. Once it was discovered, the original generator of the wastewater was held responsible for the clean up cost! http://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=wlulr
Due to the heavy fines the EPA levies on generators – and the waste generator’s lifelong responsibility for harmful waste – processing your own wastewater without depending on a waste hauler can provide more peace of mind with a greater return on investment. Traditional wastewater evaporators reduce the volume of your wastewater by about 90%; obviously this will make a significant reduction in your liability exposure. The best approach is a RunDry evaporator because it eliminates 100% of the water and gives you the smallest quantity of waste for proper disposal.
David N Lyman, a mechanical engineer with 40 years of industrial experience. Currently the president of RunDry Evaporators.
