A Pollution Prevention Guide for Automotive Repair Shops

 

LINK: Automotive Repair Shops

Automobile repair shops produce many types of waste -- some hazardous, some not necessarily hazardous but still potentially damaging to the environment if not handled properly, and all requiring proper treatment and/or disposal at significant cost to the business. A list of the types of waste that the shop owner or manager must contend with would include:

• solvents (paints and paint thinners)
• antifreeze
• scrap metal
• batteries and other auto parts
• oils and oil filters
• fuels of various types
• acids and alkalis (contaminated rags and towels)

Whatever the nature and characteristics of the waste may be, it all has one thing in common: All waste represents loss of resources and loss of money.
The most effective way to minimize these losses associated with waste is to avoid producing the waste in the first place. This is the concept behind DNREC’s Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance Program, which has produced this Fact Sheet to assist you and others in the automobile repair business to reduce your losses while at the same time helping to improve the environment.