Causes of Pollution:
Area Sources-Commercial Printing
The primary chemical that many commercial printers use is press/screen cleaners that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These chemicals do contribute to ozone formation in the environment and are connected to many health issues. All printers whose primary business is printing, where printing is not an ancillary process, (Primary Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code is 23, 26 or 27 or a primary North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code of 323110, 323111, 323112, 323113 or 323119 ) must certify under the MADEP ERP unless they are large enough to be considered a Major Air Source and would then report under the Annual Air Source Registration process.
Based on the 2005 MADEP ERP data, the average amount of press/screen cleaner used per unit at reporting printers is 84.6 gallons (or approximately 600 pounds) of cleaner annually. Since all printers must use press/screen cleaners that are 30% or less by weight VOC, then worst case all of the VOC (30%) would be assumed to evaporate, thus allowing 180 pounds of VOC per unit of press/screen cleaner VOC to be emitted annually. Using this statewide average as a benchmark to compare to the reporting facilities in the three target communities, only the largest facility, reporting eight machines, was above the statewide average for air emissions.
This suggests that the other smaller facilities are managing their chemical usage well, and that this larger printer, having 60% more usage than would be expected using the statewide average per machine, may have room for improvement. In fact, this printer ranks No. 23 as highest emissions among the 275 printers that self-reported with full data even though they are comparable in the number of machines on-site. If you look at just the Printers with eight machines on site, as is reported by this Printer, they rank No. 4 among 16 in the state.
The known reported amount in 2005 of Press/Screen Cleaner potentially evaporated is 1,100 gallons, with 100% of the VOC content of 30% assumed to be emitted to the air for the three towns is 2,300 pounds of VOC. However, if we use the statewide average emission for the additional printers identified by our mappers, and assume that these additional facilities have three machines per facility (since the median of state reporters had three machines), then the area could be experiencing 16,000 VOC pounds annually of press/screen cleaner emission.
Thus the emissions may be more than seven times the amount currently being reported to MADEP. It should also be noted that this only accounts for the press/screen cleaner usage of printers, and not the additional VOC emissions that may occur due to the use of inks, coatings, adhesives, and fountain solutions which often also contain VOCs but is currently not required to be reported under this state regulation.
| PRINTING |
# Facilities reporting in ERP |
ERP Reported VOC pounds to Air |
# Facilities reporting or identified by mappers |
VOC pounds Assumed to Air (using statewide avg for those not reporting) |
If Used Statewide Avg per machine (VOC pounds to air) |
| TOTAL |
8 |
2,325 |
36 |
15,803 |
18,832 |
| SALEM |
4 |
2,272 |
15 |
8,135 |
8,883 |
| BEVERLY |
3 |
0 |
18 |
6,549 |
7,639 |
| MARBLEHEAD |
1 |
52 |
3 |
1,118 |
2,309 |
Mapping Versus DEP ERP filing Discrepencies:
Beverly Notes: Of the 26 printing & copying businesses identified in Beverly by the community mappers only 19 were identified as printers. Of these printers, only one self-reports thru MADEP ERP. However, two additional printers that were not identified by community mappers do self-report through the MADEP ERP.
Salem Notes: Of the 11 printers identified in Salem by the community mappers, none were the four additional printers that do self-report thru MADEP ERP.
Marblehead Notes: Of the two printers identified in Marblehead by the community mappers, neither self-reported thru MADEP ERP. However, an additional printer that was not identified by the community mappers does self-report thru the MA DEP ERP.
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