BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC Environment, Health and Safety committee representatives urged the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss regulatory relief for printed board manufacturing.

Uncertainty around the implementation of the 2008 Definition of Solid Waste rule, combined with the limitations of the EPA’s 2011 proposed rule, has inhibited the recycling of wastewater treatment sludges from electroplating operations, says IPC.

IPC representatives urged Suzanne Rudzinski, director of EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, to encourage secondary materials recycling in the upcoming revision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act DSW rule.

“In 2010, US industries landfilled 9.7 million pounds of copper in various byproduct streams,” said EHS Committee Chair Lee Wilmot.

The changes to the DSW rule proposed by the EPA in 2011 would continue to inhibit the recycling of valuable secondary material by imposing unnecessary burdens, according to IPC.

“The US EPA needs to adopt user friendly rules if this landfill-instead-of-recycle result is to change,” added Wilmot.

During the meeting, IPC emphasized the importance of provisions that should be included in a final DSW rule, namely the transfer-based exclusion and remanufacturing exclusion.