Bay Area District Air Polllution Control Regulations

Regulation 8, Rule 20, Graphic Arts, applies to any facility operating in the Bay Area with VOC emissions greater than 75 pounds per month.  Exempt facilities must maintain records by calculating VOC emissions and keeping records of the basis of the calculations such as receipts, purchase orders, invoices, material safety data sheets, hazardous waste manifests, and usage records sufficient to verify the facility’s emissions.

Digital printing operations are exempt as long as they maintain the following records:  a list of all inks, coatings, adhesives, cleaning products used and documentation of the VOC content of each; and recording and totaling on a monthly basis the amount of each product used.

For screen printing operations subject to the rule, the facilities may not use materials with no more than the following VOC content limits:

• Ink 3.3 lbs of VOC per gallon
• Coating 3.3 lbs. of VOC per gallon
• Adhesive 1.25 lbs. of VOC per gallon

For ink removal applications, screen printing facilities must use products that contain no more than 4.2 pounds of VOC per gallon.  Effective July 2011, this limit dropped to 100 grams per liter, or .83 lbs of VOC per gallon.