The goal of the Materials Recycling Pilot was to conserve raw materials and improve resource use and process efficiency by facilitating safe and efficient recycling of materials. We defined materials recycling as an activity in which non-product output from one process is used productively and safely as an input for the same or a different process. Recycling activities can be performed at a single industrial facility or can be an exchange of materials across facilities.

     The Pilot Team, consisting of representatives from industry, the U.S. Environmental

The Five Recycling Scenarios: Trading Neutralization Chemicals Wastewater Alcohol Reuse Characteristic By-Product Recycling On-Site Reclamation of Spent Solvents Off-Site Reclamation of Spent Solvents

Protection Agency (EPA), and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP), prepared a series of five scenarios that represent a range of likely materials recycling activities for batch chemical manufacturers. Each scenario contains a description of the process that is currently in place, the proposed recycling activities that would be beneficial to undertake, and a series of questions and responses that specify the conditions under which regulatory requirements apply or do not apply. Since New Jersey hazardous waste regulations are the same as federal hazardous waste regulations, the findings of this Pilot would be applicable to facilities in other states that also use the federal hazardous waste regulations.

     The scenarios and conditions under which the hazardous waste regulations apply are documented in the EPA report "Promoting Chemical Recycling: Resource Conservation in Chemical Manufacturing" (EPA 231-R-99-001), May 1999. You can get a copy of the report by clicking here to see or download it or by calling Catherine Tunis, U.S. EPA project managerfor the NJ CIP, at 202-260-2698.

     The Pilot Team successfully implemented the Wastewater Alcohol Reuse Scenario between two facilities. The environmental and economic benefits associated with this scenario are documented within the Pilot Team's overall report.

TOP OF PAGE

Last Revision: March 13, 2000
http://www.epa.gov/emergingstrategies/njcip/mr.htm