THE PORT ELIZABETH-based Delta Motor Corporation is looking at ways of turning its waste paint sludge into wall slabs and floor paving. Delta says this is part of its plan to find innovative ways of recycling its waste products. These products include paint sludge, phosphate, oil and fluorescent tubes. “In the space of two years, the price of disposing of this waste increased three fold,” says Vehicle Assembly Operations Director Michael Pearton. According to Pearton, studies have shown that paint sludge comprises a high volume of the hazardous waste materials generated in the company and that the management of this waste needed concentrated attention. A substantial percentage of paint (between 30 and 40 per cent of the paint used) was washed into the water effluent system at both Delta’s Isuzu and Opel assembly lines, and later reclaimed through the recycling of the water on site. “We generate some 20 000 litres of paint sludge each month. This quantity of sludge is produced from paint valued at about R612 000,” he says. The company’s Waste Management Department began drying out the paint sludge in an oven and thereby reduced the volume of the material by 20 per cent. After paint sludge has been dried and converted from hazardous waste to an environmentally friendly product, it is then accepted at a normal landfill site. The company is now looking at ways of recycling the paint sludge into a reusable material, including wall slabs and floor paving. Other materials recycled include phosphate, which is used to produce fertiliser, coal ash, which is used to make bricks, scrap steel which is often exported after being sold to local scrap dealers and engine oil which is recycled and refined to be used as engine oil again. Packaging material such as cardboard boxes and plastic wrapping are also recycled, as are corrugated metal box sheet which are sold and later used to construct huts such as guard posts or low cost housing. In 2001, Delta recovered R1,6-million from recycled waste.