Metal Plating Company Breaks Down Process Behind Recycling 99% of Waste

At Arlington Plating Company, we recycle more than 99% of the waste generated during the metal plating process. Whether we’re plating on aluminum, zinc die cast, magnesium or other alloys, there are a wide range of chemicals that are required during the process. When the process is finished, these liquid and air-borne chemicals must be properly treated and subsequently handled.

Below, we take you through the steps involved in our commitment to above-and-beyond environmental compliance.

First, we use waters to rinse off parts between each step in the plating process.

Prior to treatment, the water contains metal hydroxide particles, which are contaminants that occur during processing. During treatment, the metal hydroxides are concentrated into a sludge, which contains approximately 2-3% nickel, 4% copper and small amounts of chrome. While the hydroxides are being concentrated into sludge, the waters are being channeled into our wastewater treatment stream where we begin to clean them.

Our entire wastewater treatment process is designed to remove metal hydroxide particles from the water so clean water can be safely released to the city’s public-owned treatment works.

Every 2 weeks, we ship the sludge in an 18 cubic yard roll-off box to AGMET, an Ohio-based company that concentrates the sludge further and sells it to the mining industry. The mining industry then recovers the metals and sells it back into commerce.

In addition to treating the water in our metal plating plant, we also treat the fumes that come off the process solutions. These fumes are vented into a fume scrubber. The fumes are transferred into a chamber where contaminants are cleansed with water. That water is then channeled to our wastewater treatment system for further treatment.

Our metal plating company is proud to reuse, recycle and recover 99% of the waste generated during the metal plating process. We’re proud to keep our employees and the environment safe without ever compromising on product quality.