Environmental options to treating metal waste
By TAN CHENG LI
ENVIRONMENTAL compliance, particularly in the short term, is more expensive than dumping wastes in drains.
Thus it is obvious which path the metal finishing industry has taken.
Consultant Yamin Vong of Chemical Waste Management said the industry found the lure of free disposal simply too tempting to ignore.
"In an industry characterised by excessive competition, one aspect which often comes under the brunt of operators trying to cut operating costs is waste treatment.
"They prefer to undercut each other to the level where they cannot afford to treat their waste."
Malaysia Metal Finishing Society (MMFS) Choong Kok Seng said most operators were reluctant to install waste-water treatment facilities as these were viewed as zero-return investment.
"It is a competitive industry and operators will avoid any operating costs which lowers their profits," he said.
Various quarters, however, pointed out that waste treatment need not be expensive.
Selangor and Federal Territory Department of Environment (DOE) director Hashim Daud said there were electroplaters who spent on treatment plants yet survive the extra burden.
"There is definitely cost involved in waste treatment but it is not prohibitive," he said.
Treatment systems can be designed to suit the budget and needs of factories, which was what Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the Standards Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia did.
UKM’s sequencing batch reactor was designed with the industry in mind. It is inexpensive, compact, simple to operate and reliable.
The plant was tested in one electroplating factory but no others took up the design.
Sirim’s proposal for chemical fixation plants to be shared by factories cost between RM100,000 and RM500,000.
Another plant based on ion exchange technology would cost RM1.2 million.
A new treatment using ion exchange resin which acts like a magnet to attract metals in waste-water, also seems attractive.
One electrical firm invested RM12O,000 on it and spent RM8,000 a month on operating costs.
The firm’s old conventional plant cost RM7O,000 and runs at RM7,500 a month.
Although investment on the new system was higher, it was more economical in the long run as it leaves zero discharges.
A consultant, however, pointed out that getting factories to have treatment plants does not necessarily solve the problem.
Of the 104 electroplaters in the DOE’s records, 28 have treatment systems but all were found to be malfunctioning last year.
Mr Kana Verumandy, an engineer with Chemical Waste Management, said it was a common occurrence where plants were built just to meet DOE requirements.
They were often undersized and in some cases not used in order to cut operating costs.
"Many conventional treatment systems tend to malfunction because they require stringent monitoring. And not many factories will employ an engineer just to do that," he said.
On another perspective, however, the expenses of getting rid of dangerous chemicals could be a blessing in disguise.
High costs could be an incentive for the industry to minimise waste-generation by using safer chemicals, changing processes, recovery and recycling and better housekeeping.
Sirim official Dr Mustaza Ahmadun said some of the pollutants were actually valuable process chemicals and heavy metals that ended up on floors and in drains as waste-water was dumped instead of being collected, treated and recycled.
"Recouping the materials from waste-water not only reduces treatment costs, but also the cost of replacing plating and processing chemicals," said Dr Mustaza, who heads the metal protection and finishing unit.
But recovery of metals is hampered by one feature of the industry —most operators do not specialise but do a mix hash of cyanide zinc, cyanide silver, acidic tin and acidic nickel-chrome plating in the same working area.
Too many materials mixed together in the waste-water makes it difficult to treat and to extract the heavy metals.
Kana believed that operators should be educated not only on the options of waste treatment but on the dangers posed by heavy metal waste to human health.
"The industry will be more careful with its waste if operators are aware of the health risks.
"I told them that the toxic chemicals will eventually go back to them, such as in their water supply."
He said the industry should not have financial constraints as there were numerous grants and incentives yet to be tapped.
This included the Industrial Adjustment Fund and two funds each worth RM100,000 under the Industrial Technical Assistance Funds managed by Sirim.
Operators who store, treat and dispose hazardous waste are entitled to a tax allowance at an initial rate of 40 per cent and an annual rate of 20 per cent for all capital expenditure.
As further encouragement, equipment and raw materials for the purpose are exempted from import duty and sales tax.
If environmental appeals fail to convince the metal finishing sector to clean up its waste mess, perhaps customer pressure and the industry’s future prospect would.
"The first thing foreign clients, especially the Japanese and Taiwanese, ask is whether you have a treatment plant.
"But right now, they don’t have much choice as nearly all operators do not have treatment plants," said electroplater Choong.
A collective effort by the industry that profits from the polluting activity can get the waste mess under control and the effort must be made fast as the DOE has hinted that time is running out for the industry.
The economics of waste
THE house in Ampang New Village looks just like any other in the area, except for the tell-tale empty drums labelled "CYANIDE."
It is a factory for a flourishmg metal finishing business, owned by Mr Wong Tak Wing.
He has been running the operation for five years, using chemicals such as cyanide, zinc oxide, sodium hydroxide and other acids in the electroplating processes.
All operations are done manually by a handful of Bangladeshi workers.
Solutions from the plating and rinsing containers were left flowing onto the floor and into a drain which joins a nearby stream.
Wong admits that factory waste was being discharged untreated.
"It is not easy (to treat waste) . . . treatment plants cost RM200,000 to RM300,000.
"We are a small business. The potential is good but very competitive."
He, however, realised the needs to treat metal finishing waste and intends to relocate his factory to the Kajang Industrial Area.
A consultant has designed a treatment system for his new factory.
But his plans has hit a snag as he had just found out that the site was within a water catchment area which meant that his factory effluents would have to meet the more stringent Class A requirement.
He would need a more efficient treatment system, one which would probably cost more.
When asked if he feared the authorities coming after him, Wong shrugged his shoulders and replied:
"What can I do? I have bought a piece of land but it will take time to move, between two to three years."
Source : The Star July 5 1993
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