The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a pilot project to assist small- and medium-size manufacturers who want to minimize their generation of hazardous waste but who lack the expertise to do so. Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) were established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual (EPA/625/7-88/003, July 1988). The WMAC team at the University of Tennessee inspected a plant that rebuilds approximately 2,000 railway cars (open, flat, and freight) each year and that refurbishes wheel assemblies and air brake systems. The team's report, detailing their findings and recommendations, indicated that the greatest opportunities to minimize waste came from the railcar painting operation where paint and primer solids and sludge are generated. The team recommended installing an electrostatic spray paint system for priming and painting to reduce the overspray losses. The Research Brief was developed by the principal investigators and EPA's Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce key findings of an ongoing research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title available from the authors.

Caption title. Shipping list no.: 91-555-P. "Jul. 1991." "EPA/600-M-91-017."