U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
EPA Seeks Better Use of Millions of Tons of Wasted Sand
Contact: Dave Ryan, (202) 564-4355 / ryan.dave@epa.gov
(Washington, D.C. - Sept. 18, 2006) EPA is today releasing a guide to help
states get more productive use out of millions of tons of sand discarded by the
foundry industry.
The State Toolkit for Developing Beneficial Reuse Programs for Foundry Sand
is designed to significantly increase the volume of sand that is reused from
foundry operations, saving landfill capacity and protecting natural resources.
Foundry products are found in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy,
including transportation, construction, agricultural equipment, and military
weapon systems.
Each year, foundries, also known as metal casters, use about 100 million tons of
sand to create molds for cast metal, but then dispose of about 10 million tons.
Most of the disposed sand is not hazardous and could be reused in a variety of
ways, including roadbeds, construction fill, and cement manufacturing. However,
barriers in state programs and the market result in only about one million
tons (10 percent) being reused to benefit society. For example, State barriers
include the time required for approval of reuse requests, overly strict
requirements for testing by-products proposed for reuse, and insufficient
outreach on how to apply for the beneficial use activity.
While the Toolkit can help states promote beneficial reuse of foundry
sand, it is also helpful to states when starting or revising programs aimed at a
much wider range of industrial byproducts, such as coal combustion by-products
and construction and demolition debris.
The Toolkit was released today by EPA before the American Foundry Society
at their 18th Environmental Health and Safety Conference in
Nashville.
For a copy of the Toolkit and more information about beneficial reuse of foundry
sand, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/sectors/metalcasting/foundry.html
The Toolkit was developed through the Sector Strategies program (http://www.epa.gov/sectors)
in EPA's Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, in partnership with the
foundry industry and EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge, which is focusing on
foundry sands as one of three industrial byproducts that present strong reuse
opportunities (The other two are coal combustion by-products and construction
and demolition debris).
For more information about the Resource Conservation Challenge, visit:
http://www.epa.gov/rcc/
R248