12    ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: BENEFICIAL
USE OF SPENT FOUNDRY SAND FROM MULTIPLE
SOURCES
Raymond W. Regan, Sr., Associate Professor
William Paletski and Richard Massell, Research Assistants
Environmental Resources Research Institute
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802
INTRODUCTION
For many years foundry wastes were successfully used as construction materials for building roads,
for township cindering and as fill.' In Pennsylvania, the Solid Waste Management Act (Act 97, 1980)
brought these practices to a halt. As a result, Pennsylvania foundries are experiencing a severe
increase in the cost for disposal of their non-hazardous manufacturing waste sand.
The Beneficial Use Act (Act 55, 1989) was initiated by the foundry industry. It gives the legal
authority for and charges the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (PaDER) to
"encourage the beneficial use or processing of municipal waste or residual waste. . ." Progress by the
foundry industry under Act 55 has been slow due to a lack of information available to the PaDER
concerning the environmental impact of foundry waste used for construction purposes.
The significance of this project is to provide a technical data base from which sound defensible
engineering and regulatory decisions could be made regarding the beneficial reuse of foundry byproducts, as an alternative to landfilling. Possibly as much as 300,000 tons per year of these materials
can be reclaimed by 1994-1995.
Objectives
The general objective of the continuing investigation to be included in the presentation is to
establish the chemical characteristics of a wide spectrum of spent molding sands from Pennsylvania
foundries from which environmental impacts might be made. To achieve this objective statistical
protocols are used, including clustering and factorial analyses.
Justification
The passage of Act 55 marked an opportunity for a significant shift in the environmental control
strategy by industry in Pennsylvania. By this statute the legislature allowed industrial generators of
solid waste to have the material alternatively classified as products. Beneficially used products were to
be exempted from the regulatory rules and regulations applicable to solid wastes. The needed application process was brief, involving a chemical analysis and narrative responses as to the amounts, use
and environmental fate of the material. The brief application procedure and potential financial gain
were attractive to many industries. Quite the opposite view was taken by the regulatory agency who
lacked the appropriate data bases and user information to establish an effective and meaningful
review. Further, the industry was faced with the tasks of proving the suitability of the alternative
material and its effective marketing against traditional supplies. The research conducted by the Penn
State investigators during the 1991/92 contract year was directed at both the industry and regulatory
needs identified above for the foundry industry.
This cooperative approach has been used previously2 and lays the framework for the development
of a general permit, the application for which became authorized by the PaDER on July 4, 1992.
Foundries working cooperatively for the implementation of a beneficial use program appears to make
sense and cents for several reasons. Users of approved materials within the construction industry will
likely require quantities beyond the capability of a single foundry and will likely require deliveries to
be made on a short schedule. Continuing testing to assure that user specifications and environmental
48th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1993 Lewis Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan 48118. Printed in
U.S.A.
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