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NICKEL PLATING: INDUSTRY PRACTICES, CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Citation:
Altmayer, F., T D. Ferguson*, AND J. Bridges. NICKEL PLATING: INDUSTRY PRACTICES, CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. EPA/625/R-03/005, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
This report was prepared under the direction of EPA's ORD to assist the metal finishing community with the management of nickel plating environmental issues. This report provides the rationale for developing the document, identifies the intended user audience, and presents the framework for evaluating nickel plating management practices from case studies that incorporate cost-effective solutions to solving persistent nickel plating problems. It also provides a current analysis of the nickel plating industry from a technical, economic, and regulatory perspective.
This capsule also includes five major recommendations: 1) Facilities should conduct environmental audits and pollution prevention opportunity assessments. These tools have been very successful in assisting nickel-plating practitioners to identify where P2 and environmental compliance can be accomplished. They help to establish baselines to provide for a systematic approach for environmental decision-making. 2) Embrace environmental management techniques and approaches that encourage a more comprehensive life-cycle assessment; pollution prevention; environmental management systems that incorporate ISO 14000; and environmental cost accounting, such as activity based costing. 3) Improve production and reduce environmental impacts through enhanced technology transfer by government, industry, academia, and trade associations. Several nickel-plating practitioner needs can be met with technical and management information transfer through case studies, reports, workshops, journal articles, meetings, and newsletters. 4) Continue and ehnace the existing EPA-Industry partnerships for out-year planning by promoting more competition in the global market while reducing environmental impacts and improving productivity. 5) Government and industry develop more efficient plating solutions that utilize lower concentrations of nickel and produce lower levels of air emissions and other releases.