Contact Information:
Fern Abrams, IPC Director of Environmental Policy
202-962-0460

 

 

 

NORTHBROOK, Ill., February 7, 2002--IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries® recently filed comments stressing that the current designation of electroplating sludge as a hazardous waste does not support the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) goal of emphasizing materials recovery and recycling under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

IPC filed comments in response to EPA's RCRA vision paper, "Beyond RCRA: Prospects for Waste and Materials Management in the Year 2020," commending the agency for recognizing that the current system of managing industrial byproducts and wastes falls far short of its goal of encouraging resource conservation. 

"We stressed the need to direct valuable resources towards recovery, reclamation and recycling, instead of treatment and disposal as hazardous wastes," said Fern Abrams, IPC director of Environmental Policy.  "Our filed comments pointed out that the designation of electroplating sludge as a RCRA F006 hazardous waste acts to discourage the recovery of the high concentrations of valuable metals." 

Marianne Lamont Horinko, EPA's new assistant administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, recently stated her intentions to refocus RCRA to emphasize materials recovery and recycling as part of the agency's waste management practices.  Horinko plans to incorporate regulatory exemptions, XL projects and some regulatory modifications to encourage innovative waste treatment technologies.

At a recent public hearing on EPA's future vision for RCRA, IPC encouraged EPA to exempt F006 electroplating sludge, thereby removing regulatory barriers to recycling the valuable metals.

Visit the IPC Web page at http://www.ipc.org/html/RCRA%20Comments2.pdf, for the full text of IPC's comments.

For more information, contact Abrams at [log in to unmask] or 202-638-6219.

About IPC
IPC is a U.S.-based trade association dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its more than 2,700 member companies which represent all facets of the electronic interconnection industry, including design, printed wiring board manufacturing and electronics assembly.  As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of a $44 billion U.S. industry employing more than 400,000 people.

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