Best Management Practices for

Waste Reduction

Reduce, reuse, refill, repair, then recycle to reduce operation costs and conserve natural resources

Prevent Waste at its Source

Reduce waste by using less material

Buy plate glass in wood billet crates

Henricksens Ace Hardware, North St. Paul, Minnesota (12,000 square feet of retail) buys plate glass in wood billet crates rather than stocking 40 to 50 different sizes of precut plate glass. One sheet of billet glass can be used for multiple glass cuttings; therefore, less glass is wasted than when using pre-cut glass.  The glass in billets costs 36 percent less per square foot than pre-cut glass, and it requires less storage space than the boxes of pre-cut glass.  Cost savings are realized in the purchase cost of glass and the amount of glass purchased; avoided labor costs to knock down the pre-cut cardboard boxes; avoided waste disposal costs of glass; avoided cardboard disposal; and avoided wood packaging waste because the empty billets are given away to customers.  A loading dock and forklift are recommended to receive the heavy billets.

Use bin tags to price merchandise

Alexandria Ace Hardware, Alexandria, Minnesota (7,200 square feet of retail) switched from applying individual product price tickets to using bin tags to identify pricing and then scanning products at the counter.  This saved 94 percent of costs, including reductions of labor cost. They were able to reduce the number of people needed each week for price ticketing from two to one, increased the accuracy of product pricing, and increased their efficiency in inventory monitoring.  By eliminating individual price tags, the store was also able to eliminate using toxic chemicals to remove price tickets from products, and thus also reduced the toxicity of their waste stream.

Cost Savings:     $5100 the first year of conversion ($2,200 in labor alone); 94% cost savings

Buy products in bulk

Frattallones Ace Hardware, Arden Hills, Minnesota (17,000 square feet of retail; owns eight Ace stores) employs two people full time in a small engine repair shop at their store in Circle Pines, Minnesota.  Instead of buying oil in individual quart containers, they switched to buying it in gallon containers.  Unfortunately, there were no cost savings since it costs less for dealers to buy quart containers than gallons because the quarts are a more competitively priced volume and there are no shipping costs to dealers.  However, there were significant savings in avoided waste, especially if they went one step further and purchased motor oil in 55 gallon drums, and then measured out the individual quantities and recycled the drums back to the supplier.

Reduce packaging waste

A packaging evaluation is an essential part of the purchasing procedure at Palo Alto Ace Hardware, Palo Alto, California. If given a choice between purchasing products in individual packages or bulk, they purchase in bulk and display without packaging. While this policy requires more customer assistance, it is also an opportunity to explain to the customer the environmental benefits of reduced packaging.  Bulk purchasing is available for many types of products throughout the store, but works particularly well in the plumbing and electrical departments and with small hardware items—fasteners, bolts, screws, etc.

Make purchases cooperatively with other hardware dealers

Denny and Kathy's Ace Hardware, St. Cloud, Minnesota (14,000 square feet of retail) purchases products in bulk quantity with other dealers.  Products are shipped directly from the manufacturer and delivered to each individual store for no additional cost. This procedure has cost savings, not direct waste savings.  However, products can be purchased more efficiently for better inventory management, which indirectly reduces waste.  Antifreeze, sand tubes, potting soil, and small equipment are some of the products purchased in this manner.  For example, 20 dealers cooperatively purchased tube sand directly from the manufacturer.  The product was dropped off at each store for no additional freight charge saving each dealer the $35 drop charge if they had ordered the products as individual dealers.  Plus, there was a $1.30 per tube savings (including freight charges) by ordering direct rather than ordering through the warehouse.

Cost savings: 48% cost savings to each of 20 hardware dealers

Maximize computer and printer capacity

Edit daily and monthly inventory reports on screen and save to a file Print reports on the back of previous reports

Denny & Kathy's Ace Hardware has reduced their paper use for report printing by editing daily and monthly inventory reports on the computer screen and saving to a computer file rather than printing out the reports on paper.  This has allowed the store to reduce printed monthly inventory reports from 90 pages to 10 pages, which are printed on the clean back side of previous monthly reports for additional paper savings.   They estimate that double-sided copying for monthly reports and other special reports saves 30 percent on paper purchases per year; $100 per year.

Use start/stop printing feature

Denny and Kathy's Ace Hardware saves money on bin tag purchases by being able to start, stop, and resume laser printing of bin tags later on the same sheet of tags.  This eliminates wasted bin tag sheets and saves on purchasing costs.

Cost savings: $23/year; 25% cost savings

Computerize inventory management

Denny and Kathy's Ace Hardware has reduced the employee hours spent on tracking inventory and ordering by 75 percent-from 30 hours per week to 7 hours per week-by using the Pace computer system (Ace Hardware's custom software package) for electronic inventory management.  Each time an item is purchased at the cash register, the inventory number is scanned by the computer for price and automatically deducted from the inventory amount.  While some employee labor is still necessary to cross check the shelf units against the computer inventory, major efficiencies in labor are realized when taking inventory, and ordering and pricing.

Alexandria Ace Hardware attributes a 4 percent increase in their gross profit margin to using the Pace Computer system for inventory management.  The computer's accuracy in tracking inventory has enabled the store to be more accurate about product pricing, catching any human errors quickly, and to reduce inventory without a loss in sales.   They are now able to turn their stock more often, keep inventory adequate and increase profits.

Cost savings: $2070/year in labor costs; 77% cost savings at Denny & Kathy's Ace Hardware

Reduce energy consumption

Install energy-efficient T8 fluorescent/electronic ballast lighting

When Frattallones Ace Hardware retrofitted the lighting in their store with energy-efficient T8 fluorescent lights, the local utility projected a yearly savings of 30 to 40 percent on their utility bills, plus they got a sizeable rebate from the utility to help finance the lighting improvement. An added benefit of the new lighting was a brighter, more customer-friendly atmosphere in the store, which will likely influence customer sales. To calculate the payback period, the utility continues to charge the store an average of their pre-improvement electricity costs; until the cost of the lighting improvement is paid for by the difference between the pre-improvement bill and current electric bill (after improvements).

Retrofit exit signs

Frattallones Ace Hardware converted their exit signs from two 20-watt incandescent bulbs totwo LED (light emitting diode) bulbs, which have a life of 25 years and an annual operating cost of $1.09 per sign. The first year cost savings include the avoided cost of replacement bulbs and avoided labor cost to change the incandescent bulbs. Frattallones has five exit signs in the store, which results in a collective first year savings of $165 in energy costs and a total collective savings of $3,045 (assuming a constant electric rate) over the 25 year life of the LED bulbs.

Install a programmable thermostat

Frattallones Ace Hardware installed programmable thermostats in their eight stores to reduce winter heating and summer cooling costs. In the winter, the thermostat temperature was reduced during closed evening hours and programmed to turn up before the store opened in the morning. In the summer, the thermostat temperature was increased during closed evening hours and programmed to cool down the store before it opened in the morning. According to Honeywell's Programmable Thermostat package, an average 12 percent savings can be assumed for Minnesota with 2 settings per 24 hours; cost savings are based on the store's annual energy use for heating and cooling.

Cost Savings: $2042/year; 12% energy cost savings

Use motion-sensing lights or timers in low-use areas of the store

Bryant Hardware (Servistar/Coast to Coast) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has a 1,800 square foot hardware store. They insalled two motion sensors, with a 100-watt incandescent bulb in each, in basement lights. The motion sensors are set for 5 minutes and are turned on approximately 15-20 times per day.

Cost savings: $37/year; 86% energy cost savings

Alexandria Ace Hardware keeps their extra inventory in the basement of the store plus their rest room is located in the basement. They installed timers on all lights in the basement except one, which they keep on continuously for safety reasons. The timers are set for a maximum of ten minutes. Energy savings are based on estimates of daily use.

Cost savings: $180/year; 89% energy cost savings    

Note: Normally, installing compact fluorescent light bulbs in motion sensors would be the most cost effective choice of bulb. In this case, however, regular incandescent bulbs would be the best choice because of the need to instantly illuminate the area for safety reasons, and compact fluorescents take a few seconds to come on.

Use energy-efficient outdoor accent lighting

Alexandria Ace Hardware has 185 feet of accent lighting (9 watts per bulb; 1 bulb per foot) at both the front and back of the store. If they changed to using strings of miniature lights (0.25 watts per light; 2-3 lights per foot) for outdoor accent lighting, they will see substantial savings in operating costs. While the accent effect may be slightly diminished with the smaller bulbs, the cost savings justify the change in bulbs. The labor to replace bulbs is assumed to be the same for either type of lighting. Cost estimates take into consideration seasonal variations in the amount of daylight.

Cost savings: $400/year; 94% energy cost savings

Install insulating window film or "reflective" film

Installing insulating window film can increase the "R"value of a single pane window by 90 percent to save on heat loss and heating costs. The savings are based on the square footage of windows at Henricksens Ace Hardware, which is located in the northern climate of Minnesota. In warmer zones, the savings will decrease as the heat loss and minimum heating-degree-days decrease. Frattallones Ace Hardware permanently installed window film on two small office windows to reduce winter heat loss and summer heat gain. For a large window area, reflective or "solar" film applied directly to the inside of windows can reduce heat gain in the cooling season and heat loss in the heating season.

Cost savings:

• $200/year for a single paned window; 11% cost savings
• $75/year for a double paned window;  4% cost savings

Reduce water heating costs with point-of-use tankless water heaters

Henricksens Ace Hardware installed a tankless electric water heater under the sink in their employee break room. With this type of heater, water is heated instantly to a specified temperature as water is demanded. They also installed 2-gallon point-of use hot water heaters under the sink in two rest rooms. These heat and store two gallons of hot water to be used as called for. Both tankless and 2-gallon water heaters are considered point-of-use water heaters.

Henricksens does not have a 50-gallon hot water heater, but the cost savings here are based on an assumed use for comparison purposes. A 50-gallon hot water heater and a 2-gallon hot water heater cost about the same to heat a gallon of hot water and both cost more than the tankless hot water heater to operate. With a 50-gallon hot water heater, there is additional water and energy wasted because water that is stored in the pipes between the tank and the faucet loses heat upon standing in the pipes. Water sitting in the pipes has to be run out completely before hot water can arrive at the tap; this wastes up to $75 per year in energy costs to heat the hot water. In addition, since water is heated to a specified temperature in a 50-gallon water heater, when water is not called for, which is most of the day, the water is continually losing heat and energy is wasted in re-heating the water. This energy waste is not accounted for in the calculations; therefore, the savings would be even more than shown. A tankless water heater saves energy and water by heating water only as it is demanded at the tap.

The comparison of the tankless hot water heater to a 50-gallon electric hot water heater assumes that a 50-gallon hot water heater would be located 30 feet from the rest rooms and the employee break room, and it has a ¾ inch delivery pipe. The savings assume that hot water use is primarily for hand washing in the bathrooms and cup washing in the break room, and average faucet use per day for six employees and several customers. The water runs for approximately one minute (1.6 gallons/minute) using 50 percent hot water and 50 percent cold water when washing hands or cups. The tankless hot water heater is the most efficient hot water heater to install in rest rooms, break rooms or other utility areas because it heats hot water only when called for rather than heating and storing water.

Install low-flow aerators on faucets   

Henricksens Ace Hardware installed low-flow aerators on faucets in their rest rooms and break room to reduce the water flow from 4.6 gallons per minute to 1.6 gallons per minute. This reduces the amount of hot water used for hand washing and the cost of heating hot water. The savings assume that six employees wash their hands in the bathroom sink four times each day. The water is run for one minute using 50 percent hot water and 50 percent cold water. The hot water is heated by a 2-gallon point-of-use hot water heater that costs $0.017 to heat one gallon of water; the utility rate is $0.065/kwh.

Cost savings: $200/year for hot water heating; 65% cost savings

Additional best management practices to reduce energy use

•     When replacing floor tiles, use light colored tiles to reflect light for a brighter lighting effect with the same amount of overhead lighting.

•     When re-painting, use a light color. The higher reflectivity of a light color may allow a     reduction in the number of light bulbs needed in a given area or the wattage of the bulbs.

•     Use metal reflectors above wall shelving to direct and concentrate lighting on products for better illumination.  Denny & Kathy's Ace Hardware has reflectors behind wall displays along the outside wall to provide bright product illumination without additional lighting.

•     Insulate hot water tanks and delivery pipes.

•     Modify light fixtures.  Convert magnetic ballast fixtures to electronic ballast fixtures because they use less power.  Or, convert four-bulb fluorescent lighting fixtures to 2-bulb fluorescent fixtures. 3M Silverlux reflectors can be installed to effectively "bounce" more light out of the fixture from two bulbs to equal the dispersed light of four bulbs.  The ballast of the extra two bulbs is disconnected for more energy efficiency.  This action reduces the number of 4-foot fluorescent bulbs needed to light the same area by 50 per-cent.   Each reflector costs approximately $35 and $3.75 in labor to change the fixtures.

•     Replace yellowed or hazy lenses, diffusers, and globes with new ones that will remain brighter and clearer and transmit more light.  This will result in savings only if the increased light output allows the removal of some lamps and/or the use of lower wattage lamps.

•     Install high intensity discharge (HID) lights (mercury vapor, metal halide or sodium) in the parking lot.  Low-pressure sodium lights are the most energy-efficient of the HID lights. Use photocell timers to turn lights on and off by the amount of daylight instead of by specific hours.  Use partial lighting before and after "public" hours.

•     Use vapor barrier paint on inside perimeter walls and ceiling. Put extra insulation in the ceiling to increase heating and cooling efficiency.

•     Apply elastomeric roof coating which forms a thick rubber-like blanket of roof protection that expands and contracts with the roof.  The product comes in white, black or gray; the use depends on the climate and desired end result.  The white coating is over 90 percent reflective to the sun's rays, which can cool roof temperatures in warmer climates from 200 degrees F to 80 degrees F, and reduce cooling needs inside the store.  The black coating is used in colder climates to absorb heat on the roof to reduce inside heating costs; gray both absorbs and reflects for moderate climates. Most products are warranted for seven years protection.

•     Install high-efficiency heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment and motors; check with the local utility for possible rebates.

•     Use ceiling fans to "de-stratify" warm air layers near the ceiling and distribute them to the lower space for people's comfort during the heating season, and reverse the fans in summer to draw hot air away.

•     At loading docks; install a curtain of plastic strips or a flexible windbreak (dock seal) to     reduce heat or air conditioning loss.

•     Install daylight sensing controls that will automatically reduce artificial lighting when there is sufficient light available.

•     Install "light tubes-highly reflective air-duct-like tubes-to efficiently draw sunlight from above the roof down into the building's interior.  This is a highly effective lighting source.

Case Study: Advanced Energy-Efficiency Technology At Martinez Ace Hardware

When Bill Wygal decided to build a new Ace Hardware store in Martinez, California, the fifth store in the family-owned group, the construction focus was on technology and energy efficiency. It is a 16,000 square foot store with a 16,000 square foot yard/outdoor sales area. The store stocks over 30,000 SKUs and has a special contractor order office where over one-half million products can be special ordered, a delivery service, a community involvement program, and over 20 other enhanced customer services.

The building has 34 skylights with electronic sun trackers that move every five minutes in order to keep available sunlight directed down through the skylight and distributed to the inside by a heat-trap prism reflector on the inside of the building. This results in a mid-day candle power of over 200 foot candles per skylight while minimal heat is let into the building. The skylights are manufactured by So Luminaire Company in Arizona. The skylights are operated by a computer regulated energy management system, which continuously monitors and regulates the amount of light needed in any given area. The management system shuts down indoor lights as the natural light concentrated by the skylights increases during the day, and it turns the lights on later in the day as natural light decreases. By 10 a.m. there is usually enough concentrated light to shut down all the inside lights.

To keep the heating and air conditioning costs down, six 10-Ton high SEER rating HVAC units with sensors in the duct work are tied to the energy management system, which calls for heat or air conditioning only as needed. The building was constructed with R30 insulation covered with a white paper membrane on the ceiling. For additional resource efficiency, the outdoor landscaped area was planted with water-conserving plants and motion activated lights have been installed in rest rooms.

Additional technology includes: wireless call boxes that allow a customer to call for service with the push of a button; the latest paint matching technology linked to an automatic dispensing device; and computerized custom category pricing which gives the store the ability to further extend discounts by item or category to customers.

Reduce Water Consumption

Use faucet aerators to conserve water

Henricksens Ace Hardware installed low-flow aerators on sinks in rest rooms and the employee break room. With the low-flow aerator, the flow was reduced from 4.7 gallons per minute to 1.6 gallons per minute as measured by the amount of time it took to fill a one gallon plastic bottle with and without an aerator on the faucet.

Volume reduction of waste: 3 gallons of water /minute; 22,450 gallons/year; 65% savings

Note: When installing a faucet aerator, the reduced water flow will vary depending on the water pressure. The higher the pressure the more water delivered.

Install a double-handled toilet lever

Water consumption can be reduced by up to 70 percent by installing a double-handled toilet lever on toilets installed prior to 1994, at which time federal plumbing codes mandated all subsequent toilets be 1.6 gallons per flush. The lever has two handles: a reduced water flow lever for flushing liquid waste, which reduces the water used to approximately 1.6 gallons, and a lever for flushing solid waste, which uses the full water amount. Assuming 5 gallons per flush with an older conventional toilet, a 70 percent reduction in water use, and 12 employees ( a medium sized hardware store) using the rest room three times during an average work shift, there could be significant water savings using this product.

Volume of waste (water) avoided: 39,000 gallons of water saved/year; 70% water savings

Note: Installing water-conserving flappers or early-closing toilet flappers on older, conventional toilets will also reduce water consumption substantially.

Reduce The Toxicity Of Materials Used and Sold   

Use concentrated, non-toxic cleaners in refillable containers

The cost and waste reduction benefits of using a concentrated non-toxic cleaner were compared to various name brand cleaning products (a window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, and an aerosol spray cleaner) used at Henricksens Ace Hardware for general purpose cleaning. Diluting concentrated cleaners in a refillable pump spray container to the strength needed for the specific job is more economical to purchase and eliminates the waste generated by using individual products. In addition, using a pump spray container eliminates the release of volatilized chemicals into the air, and prevents the disposal of residual cleaning materials left in the bottom of an aerosol container. The concentrated cleaner was also compared to a name brand floor cleaner, but was not found to be economical. Instead, for economy and waste reduction, use industrial-strength floor cleaner concentrates.

Use a reel lawnmower for lawn maintenance

Guse Hardware (Servistar) in Minneapolis, Minnesota has a lawn boulevard (4 feet X 100 feet) to maintain. Instead of using a 4-cycle or 2-cycle gas-powered lawn mower, they use a reel lawn mower to cut the grass with no additional total labor. This eliminates toxic air emissions from a gas-powered lawn mower. The next preferable choice for lawn cutting would be to use a rechargeable electric lawnmower. The rechargeables indirectly produce negligible amounts of secondary air emissions resulting from the power production to recharge the lawn mower. If a gas-powered lawnmower must be used, choose a 4-cycle engine because they produce 50 percent less air emissions than a 2-cycle engine. The savings shown below are based on a mowing time of 15 minutes, northern climate seasonal mowing requirements, a comparison of the reel lawnmower to a 4-cycle engine lawnmower, and air emission standards provided by the California Air Resources Board. Choosing non-chemical alternatives for lawn pest control and limiting the amount of fertilizer used also reduces the toxicity of lawn maintenance. As another idea for a low-maintenace lawn, Henricksens Ace Hardware is considering planting native prairie grasses along a boulevard strip (15 feet by 100 feet) for aesthetic appeal to the customers and community, and to lower on-going maintenance requirements.

Use zero-VOC floor tile adhesive

Alexandria Ace Hardware recently laid 5,900 square feet of new flooring throughout the entire store. They used Ace's recommended vinyl floor tiles and recommended tile adhesive, which contains low amounts of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), small amounts of solvents, and is a water-based latex adhesive. The manufacturer of the recommended tile adhesive also makes a zero-VOC/no solvent product that could be substituted for the low VOC/low solvent product to reduce the amount of VOC and solvent vapors emitted into the air. While overall performance of the two products is essentially the same, the zero-VOC product has a slightly shorter working time for the installer and does not clean up as easily. In choosing a tile adhesive, these products pose an interesting question for the dealer-convenience or environmental responsibility? The toxicity reduction should answer the question.

(comparison of zero-VOC product to low-VOC product for installation of 5,900 square feet of floor tile )

Use latex instead of oil-based paints

Henricksens Ace Hardware has 10,000 square feet of walls painted with oil-based paints. When the walls need repainting, they will use latex paints to reduce the amount of toxic volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) released into the air when compared to oil-based paints. With latex paints, there will also be cost savings. The same amount of paint (25 gallons) would be required whether they use semi-gloss latex or semi-gloss oil-based paint. Zero-VOC paint is the best choice for painting walls. In early 1999, Ace Hardware will have a zero-VOC/low odor paint that has competitive performance to other paints, including durability and scrubability compatible to flat latex paint.

Help Customers Reduce Waste

Rent tools

Denny and Kathy's Ace Hardware has a tool rental center. When renting tools, customers save money by not buying new tools for occasional jobs and waste is avoided when old tools are kept out of the waste stream. Tool rental is large profit center for the store.

Offer energy-efficiency alternatives

Denny and Kathy's Ace Hardware makes window inserts for customers out of acrylic plastic sheets (Plexiglas™) to use in place of disposable window film. The inserts are used primarily in the winter months to increase the R value of a window. The R value of a single pane window can be increased by 90 percent with either the insert or disposable window film to reduce heat loss. A three-square-foot acrylic plastic window insert costs the customer $5.00 while a comparable amount of disposable plastic window film costs $1.59. However, the acrylic sheet is reusable for many years, and immediately eliminates wasted plastic window film.

Offer commercial customers less-toxic alternatives

Denny & Kathy's Ace Hardware recommended that a large commercial customer reduce the toxicity of a degreasing product by switching from an aerosol can to a trigger sprayer container, which costs 50 percent less. The company was using over 800 15-ounce aerosol cans each year at a cost of $11.99 per can. The company switched to a similar product in a 28-ounce trigger sprayer container that cost $5.50 per container. The company used approximately the same quantity of sprayer containers as aerosol cans; however, the switch in products resulted in a 100 percent reduction in product toxicity by eliminating aerosolized propellants and the company saved $5000 a year -a 54 percent cost savings. Denny & Kathy's recommendation not only helped the company save money, it also strengthened a long-term customer relationship.

Stock less-toxic products

Hardware stores can be a catalyst to help the community reduce the toxicity of their waste by offering customers a variety of less-toxic alternative products in addition to normal inventory items for the same use. Non-toxic pest control and lawn and garden products are in particular demand. Stringent government regulations on the use of toxic pest controls and concerns about pet and public health has consumers demanding healthier products for their home and garden.

The less-toxic products can be identified on bin tags as "environmentally friendly" or fact cards on "how and why" to use the products can be placed next to the products on the shelf-most manufacturers can provide these materials. Some hardware stores have invited local master gardeners or other pest control experts into the store to give mini-customer seminars or answer customer questions. Educating the customer and identifying suitable products provides an opportunity for the customer to choose between a product that promotes waste reduction or traditional products.

There are many types of less-toxic products that can be sold, such as: citrus-based cleaners, deck strippers, and other citrus-based products; products in trigger sprayer containers; biodegradable products; traps for rodents, ants, flies, fleas, yellow jackets, slugs, snails and roaches; natural based flea killers and ant bait; fly swatters, natural pet care products, garden ornaments to scare away garden predators; natural fertilizers and weed/grass killers; compost activators; diatomaceous earth insect killers; natural-based insect and pest repellants, garden dusts and fungicides; electronic pest controls; weed blocks and nettings; and many more. Initially, these products will take special effort to order, but the profits will far outweigh the effort as the store establishes a reputation for carrying eco-friendly non-toxic alternatives.

Additional Best Management Practices For Waste Reduction

•    Building exterior:     Installing a low-maintenance building exterior reduces the need to use chemicals or paint to restore the finish. Materials such as concrete, stucco, and brick require comparatively no outside maintenance.

•    Floor maintenance:      Install low maintenance flooring such as concrete that has colored chips embedded in it, or linoleum flooring, which is durable and made of natural ingredients, instead of vinyl.

•    Water run-off control:     Install holding ponds where store parking lots are adjacent to sensitive water run-off areas (i.e. wetlands, creeks, streams, rivers). A holding pond can collect and settle out parking lot run-off, which is primarily oils and salts, and slow the rate of discharge into     surrounding waters. Wetland plant vegetation can be planted around the holding pond to filter nutrients and as attractive landscaping.

•    Small engine repair services:     Use refillable pump spray cans and bulk products as an alternative to aerosol brake cleaners, carburetor cleaners or rust penetrants. This reduces the waste of empty aerosol cans, which are typically landfilled because they are difficult to recycle, and it prevents chemicals from being atomized into the air and eliminates the waste of residual product that remains in empty aerosol cans.

Recycle motor oil. Professionally launder and reuse oil rags. If large quantities of oil soaked rags are produced, there are solvent and oil recapture companies which "spin dry" the rags to reclaim the oil and then launder the rags.

Replace solvent-based parts cleaners with non-hazardous, water-based parts washing alternatives. Hot soap or jet-spray washers and aqueous cleaners reduce the exposure risk to workers from hazardous materials and reduce the risk of fire from ignitable solvents. These may require changes in cleaning equipment and practices.

If using a solvent-based parts washer:

•    use washers with lids rather than open buckets or pans to prevent unnecessary evaporation, spillage and to minimize health risks.

•    discontinue the use of solvents containing chlorine or other halogens; instead use less-toxic blends such as mineral spirits or terpenes (hydrocarbons derived from wood or citrus fruits) and always recycle hazardous waste through a hazardous waste management company.

•    mechanically pre-clean parts with a scraper or wire brush.

•    drain parts above the washing tank to recapture fluid and prevent spills.

•    extend the solvent life by using washers with a solvent filtering feature or use a washer with two reservoirs for solvent-one for initial cleaning, one for rinsing.    The rinsing solvent eventually becomes the cleaning solvent.

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