Background The surface treatment of metal products is a significant industrial activity in Europe. A number of liquid wastes are generated by surface treatment processes such as degreasing, acid pickling, alloy baths or lacquering. Many of these procedures form part of other products’ manufacturing processes. This can lead to an ‘invisible’ generation of pollution which is often neglected when designing preventive and corrective policies. Objectives The project’s main objective was to define a model for managing liquid wastes created by the surface treatment industry. This was to be done through the integrated application of existing Best Available Techniques (BATs). The integral management model was implemented under real-life conditions in a typical electroplating plant, to demonstrate its suitability for achieving zero liquid-waste discharge. Results The ZERO PLUS project successfully demonstrated the potential of a model for managing liquid wastes from the surface treatment industry and showed that the LIFE-funded model was capable of reducing environmental risks from discharge hazards to near-to-zero. An innovative methodology was designed that involved merging different BATs. This resulted in all recoverable materials being separated early on in the treatment process. Once separated, different dedicated treatments were able to be applied to each type of effluent. In this way, the waste streams are able be fully cleaned and treated before the effluent reaches an ‘end-of-pipe’ stage. Pre-industrial and industrial scale tests were carried out to assess, calibrate and validate the ZERO PLUS project’s new methodology. This was applied in three different aspects of the electroplating process, which between them involved seven typical scenarios/applications. These were: 1.Surface cleaning and preparation (A1:Degreases and rinses; A2:Acid pickling and rinse) 2.Copper-nickel-chromium rack installation or, alternatively, copper-nickel barrel installation (A3:Cyanided Cu rinses; A4:Bright Ni rinses; A5:Decorative Cr rinses) 3.Zinc/nickel barrel installation and chromate conversion (A6: Zn-Ni rinses; A7:Chromic passivated baths and rinses). A baseline of environmental risks was first established for these seven electroplating processes by using the existing BREF guidelines. LIFE partners then tested various modification options in order to address weaknesses within the BATs. Outcomes from the different modified or alternative approaches undertaken led to direct benefits such as: decreased source contamination; greater potential for reuse and recycling of waste constituents; replacing reagents waste treatments with physical treatment technologies; providing effective treatment options as alternatives to incineration or evaporation-incineration; reducing resource consumption (water, materials and energy); simplifying internal waste management processes; contributing to better safety and health conditions in the workplace; and strengthening sustainability criteria resulting from IPPC. The ZERO PLUS methodology is considered to have good adaptability to different business context and reduces social concerns by using techniques that can be easily managed or implemented. Overall it will help reinforce integrated approaches for contamination prevention. One of the most useful outcomes from the ZERO PLUS project was its review of the current BATs described in the BREF. This concluded with a set of recommendations or changes to each BAT for improving the overall environmental performance of surface treatments for metal products. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).