CASE STUDY 7: Drum Disposal

NIM Laminates P/L. Horsley Park

Company Characteristics

NIM Laminates is a Corporate 2 member of the Composites Institute of Australia employing between 3 and 5 employees fabricating electrical insulation products.

Disposal of empty resin drums is a major problem for fabricators as drum recyclers are reluctant to process resin contaminated drums. There is also a limited market for the use of recycled resin drums. Many small operators do not have sufficient turnover to make it worthwhile for a drum or metal recycler to collect their empty drums. Dangerous Goods Regulations and insurance requirements also prohibit stockpiling empty resin drums.

What did they do?

Crushed Empty Drums for Disposal

In order to get rid of the empty drums they decided to crush all of their empty drums before putting them into a waste disposal skip with other waste.

Purchase of Resin in IBC's

Purchase of resin in IBC's was also considered as an alternative to drums however resin suppliers only supply the type of resin they use in drums.

Why did they do it?

NIM Laminates used to remove the tops of empty drums and filled them with other waste prior to disposal. They found that they had more drums than they could fill and their insurance company would not allow them to accumulate empty resin drums. They had to find some way to dispose of drums when they became empty.

What are the Outcomes?

They found that they used fewer skips if the drums were crushed before placing them in the waste disposal skip.

Each 220L drum occupies a space of approximately 0.3 m3 which is reduced to approximately 0.098 m3 when it is crushed a reduction of 65% in volume. This reduced the number of waste skips required and an annual saving of around $290 on waste disposal.

Drum / Volume / Number of 1.5 m3 skips for
six drums/month / Cost @ $30/skip / Annual Cost
Uncrushed / 0.3 m3 / 1.2 / $36/m / $432.00
Crushed / 0.098 m3 / 0.39 / $11.70/m / $140.40
Annual Saving / $291.60

Where to Now?

The company will crush all empty containers prior to disposal in waste skips and pursue supply of resin in recyclable containers. Participate in industry initiatives to have all resins supplied in IBC's.

Elimination of drum waste

As the company uses 6 by 220 litre drums of resin per week they could purchase resin in refillable 500 litre or 1000 litre IBC's. The estimated cost saving using IBC in place of drums is 5 to 10 cents per kg of resin. The supplier would pick up IBC for refill and NIM would dispose of the empty liner bag in the solid waste stream. There are two significant barriers to implementation, the present premises is not large enough to accommodate storage of over 1000 litre/kg of Class 3 flammable liquids and resin suppliers refuse to provide the grades of resin used in IBC's.

.

Composites Institute of AustraliaModel EMPCase Study #7