A Primary Mission of the Council is to promote effective means of surface preparation in the maintenance industry using water and water/abrasive blasting techniques.
Costs for hazardous waste disposal are more than double that of non-hazardous waste disposal costs.1 This, combined with the liability involved with hazardous waste disposal has brought other options to the forefront in the bridge painting industry.
Two relatively new solutions to the hazardous waste problem in bridge painting are the use of admixture blended abrasives and liquid applied pretreatments.
The liquid pretreatment is a liquid material that is sprayed on the painted surface at a specified thickness, allowed to dry, then blasted off with the underlying lead-based paint.
The manufacturer of the admixture guaranteed their product by refunding the cost of the admixture if the waste produced tests hazardous for lead.
When using these products, there are additional costs involved, including the price of materials and additional labor needed to use them.
pretreatment As can be seen from the previous example, both the admixture and liquid pretreatment can reduce maintenance painting costs.
The other factor, availability, refers to the location of the jobsite to a distribution center for the materials.
Liquid pretreatment can be purchased and shipped rather easily, similar to paint.
Both the admixture blended abrasive and liquid pretreatment cost more than expendable abrasive, however, those increases are less than the disposal cost savings realized.
2. The use of admixture blended abrasives did not seem to affect the contractors productivity with the Torbo® Wet Abrasive Blasting System.
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