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NPEP Success Story: Caribbean Electroplating

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Caribbean Electroplating, Inc. Eliminates Lead in Plating

The Caribbean Electroplating, Inc. facility in Cataño, Puerto Rico, a small job shop with 20 employees, has been in operation since August, 1989.  The plant provides plating services (nickel, zinc, tin, copper, and silver) to major U.S. corporations doing business in Puerto Rico.  These services include plating and plating related activities for manufactureres of electrical, automotive, and pressure valve components.  Our annual sales volume is about one million dollars.

Caribbean's NPEP Goal
In February of 2006, Caribbean Electroplating, Inc. set an NPEP goal to eliminate 93 pounds of lead by replacing the lead bars used as cathodes in our anodizing process with bars made of aluminum or stainless steel. We chose to eliminate lead in order to reduce worker exposure and to better serve our customer base. 

Waste Minimization Results
We met our goal of eliminating 93 pounds of lead. While investigating the use of alternative cathodes such as aluminum, our primary customer moved its operations from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic. As a result of this reduction in our plating business, we closed the anodizing line. Although this closure was not part of our original goals, we recycled the lead cathodes by returning them to the original manufacturer for reuse and we have successfully eliminated the use of lead in remaining operations.

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