Environmental guidance for your business in Northern Ireland & Scotland
Managing your solvents efficiently can help you reduce the amount of solvents you use, and help you to consider cheaper alternatives.
To help you manage your solvents, you should:
You need support from everyone in your business to ensure your solvent management plan is successful. Any staff responsible for solvent management should be trained in:
Training should include potential cost savings, health and safety implications, the environmental impact of solvents and other benefits such as improved profitability.
Only buy the quantity of solvents that you need.
Talk to your suppliers about introducing a just-in-time process, where materials are delivered as and when you need them. If you need to hold stock, carry only the minimum necessary and make sure that older materials are used first.
Don't over-order to allow for waste. Reducing the amount of solvent you waste will help you to order more efficiently and save money.
If you use a lot of solvents, buying in bulk can save you money, reduce packaging and waste. Keep records of all solvent purchases, including:
Check whether your supplier offers a solvent reclamation service. This can help you to reduce costs when buying solvents. It will also help reduce the volume of solvent you use, if you need to declare your annual use to comply with your pollution prevention and control permit.
Consider using less harmful low-solvent or no-solvent alternatives. Water-based and low-emission materials are now available and can save you money. You should discuss these options with your suppliers and relevant staff.
Check all material deliveries to your site by:
If you have an environmental management system, or plan to implement one, you should use this to manage your solvent use.
Environmental management systems and environmental reports
Resource efficiency advice:
Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Permits for solvent emissions
Why you should monitor your solvent use and emissions
How to monitor your solvent use and emissions
Solvent monitoring plan and solvent emissions data
Managing your solvents efficiently
Reducing solvent use in production and cleaning processes
Recovering and reusing solvents
Solvent limits in paints and varnishes
Groundwater in Northern Ireland, DAERA have produced a leaflet to raise awareness about this untapped resource
EU Exit, EU Exit useful information
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