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Attachment A <br /> FACILITY DESCRIPTION <br /> Metal plating and metal finishing, including printed circuit <br /> fabrication and protective coating applications, are important <br /> to industry in the Twin Cities area. . Products from these metal <br /> coating firms are used by many of the area' s manufacturing <br /> businesses. Provision of these essential product treatments <br /> contributes to the Twin Cities' prominence in electronics and <br /> computer related manufacturing and associated high tech <br /> industries. There are 94 companies engaged in some form of <br /> metal finishing business in the Twin Cities. <br /> Waste metals occur as process residuals from metal finishing. <br /> Federal water pollution control laws now limit the discharge <br /> of these toxic metals as. sewered chemical wastes. . <br /> Electroplating, printed circuit shops and metal finishing firms <br /> forced to comply with pretreatment standards established under <br /> the Clean Water Act, are now faced with a choice between two <br /> basic pretreatment methods for removing their toxic metal <br /> discharges from their wastewater. It is noted that in-house <br /> water reduction measures, waste reduction and improved <br /> "housekeeping" measures are inherent to both of these basic <br /> methods : <br /> • _ In-house pretreatment using conventional systems which <br /> chemically reduces chromium, oxidizes cyanide, and <br /> precipitates heavy metals as hydroxide sludges for disposal <br /> as a hazardous waste, and <br /> Centralized treatment and recovery which allows for optimal <br /> recovery of metals (primarily through the use of ion <br /> exchange technologies) through improved economies of scale. <br /> A centralized facility provides more feasible access to <br /> secondary material markets, it allows generators to avoid <br /> costly hazardous waste land disposal costs, and it provides <br /> for a greater resource pool to fund necessary research <br /> activities and capital investments. <br /> Twenty-eight metropolitan area companies have joined together <br /> to develop a centralized treatment and recovery facility ( the <br /> Facility) for managing their residual waste water discharges. <br /> The Metropolitan Recovery Corporation (MRC) -is the business <br /> entity established to develop the Facility. <br /> • A-1 <br />