[OCT. 28, 2006]
Pollution Prevention Award (first time winners)
Small company
Chem Processing, Inc. (CPI), Rockford
– Chem Processing is a comprehensive metal finisher. CPI worked
with the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center and the Illinois
Waste Management and Research Center on a waste and water reduction
project for CPI’s wastewater treatment system. Out of this
collaboration, two project ideas were developed – adding a reverse
osmosis wastewater stream to the water softening system, and the
segregation of the phosphating process wastewater. Due to these
projects, CPI will save 900,000 gallons of water and 9,000 square
feet of hazardous sludge every year. Together, these projects will
save CPI $5,300 a year.
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PortionPac Chemical Corporation,
Chicago- PortionPac manufactures products to the industrial
cleaning market. Its product design and distribution method are
designed to reduce the size of formulations, eliminate overuse of
chemicals, provide incentives to use less product, and recycle
containers. In 2005, PortionPac committed to two programs to help
track and codify environmental policies.
Through these
programs:
·
Chemical formulations were modified to reduce harmful
materials resulting in a reduction of air and water pollution.
·
Modifications were made to packaging.
·
A Management program for developing sustainability in
all aspects of the business was implemented.
Spraylat Corporation, Chicago –
Spraylat is a manufacturer of specialty coatings. Spraylat
implemented programs that saved over $58,000 and reduced emissions
by an estimated five tons per year. Production waste generation was
reduced nearly 50% per unit of production. The projects included:
·
Switching from rags to wipes, which allowed for more
efficient cleaning and reduced waste.
·
Using an Eco-Filter to replace filter bags, which
saves time, material, and waste.
·
Reusing wash solvent has reduced liquid waste volumes
nearly 25%.
·
Installing new grinding media in the mills, which
significantly reduced processing time, allowed increased production,
and reduced chemical use.
Consolidated Printing Co., Chicago –
Consolidated Printing was one of the first Illinois Great Printers,
a designation awarded for its efforts to reduce wastes. Some of
Consolidated’s recent improvements include:
·
Switching to chemical free processor-less plate
making.
·
Switching to zero Volatile Organic Compound (VOC)
paints and varnishes and solvent-free vegetable oil based inks.
·
Installing recycled carpeting, ceiling tiles,
formaldehyde free insulation, and mercury-free lights and ballasts.
·
Using linseed oil press blanket washers.
·
Eliminating the use of silver in their processes.
Large company
Farmland
Foods, Inc., Monmouth - In 2005, Farmland Foods switched the
coolant used to cool facility air compressors from water to ethylene
glycol. A cooling tower allows the reuse of glycol minimizing
material use. This reduction of
water usage reduces the demands on the water supply, which helps the
City treatment plant stay within its permitted flows during
Farmland’s expansion. This project has eliminated a water usage
point and has reduced facility wastewater effluent by approximately
86,000 gal per day. The combined water/wastewater cost reduction
saved Farmland Foods $60,112 per year. The use of glycol for
cooling air compressors and reducing water is a first for a Farmland
facility.
Illinois
Department of Military Affairs (DMA), Springfield – DMA
directs and provides support services to the Illinois National
Guard. DMA's Environmental Branch has done P2 assessments at
several National Guard facilities and has implemented a pollution
prevention program and an Environmental Management System. DMA has
installed aqueous parts washers with ultra filtration membrane
systems, which has extended the life of parts cleaning chemicals
from three months to several years. DMA also has developed and
installed an automated weapon cleaning system that uses ultrasonic
cleaning combined with aqueous cleaners and ultrafiltration to
extend the life of the cleaners. This system has resulted in an
annual reduction of 540 gallons of hazardous wastes. DMA also
implemented a scrap metal recycling program, began using a detergent
free vehicle washing system, and started using solvent paint gun
cleaners that include solvent distillation systems in their vehicle
painting operations.
CITGO,
Lemont - The CITGO Lemont Refinery implemented a flaring
reduction project, which was intended to eliminate sources to the
flare system. The project team successfully identified and
eliminated some of the major flare sources, which reduced certain
emissions by 76% and produced a large energy savings. The company
also replaced burners on three of its largest process heaters,
resulting in an 80% reduction in certain emissions and a five
percent improvement in burner efficiency. The plant also undertook
a leak detection and repair project, which reduced estimated annual
VOC emissions from 109.0 tons in 2000 to 9.2 tons in 2005. Finally,
the plant reduced the amount of benzene in its wastewater by over
75% through an improved in-line sampling plan, source elimination,
process improvements, and operator training.
Additional
benefits of this change include recycling and reuse of
petroleum-based wastes, and reduced load to the wastewater treatment
plant.
Vendor/Supplier
Finishes Unlimited Inc., Sugar Grove –
Finishes Unlimited is an employee owned industrial paint
manufacturer. The company develops and manufactures EPA compliant
water reducible bake enamel and air-dry coatings, which it supplies
to industrial users. Users of compliant water reducible coatings
significantly lower their volatile organic compound (VOC’s) and
hazardous air pollutant (HAPs) emissions, and the amount of
hazardous waste generated from the coating operation. In 2005,
Finishes Unlimited, Inc. converted three Illinois companies to water
reducible VOC compliant coatings. These companies reduced their VOC
emissions by 70%, or 27.87 tons, and HAPs emissions by 100%, or 9.7
tons. These companies also realized paint and disposal cost savings
of over $200,000 per year. By producing only water reducible
coatings, Finishes Unlimited, Inc. has increased the safety in its
own plant.
Educational Organization
Pontiac Township High School (PTHS),
Pontiac – PTHS implemented a Crayon Recycling Program
operated by students. The PTHS Ecology students developed
receptacles made out of reused decorated five gallon buckets,
educated the fifth grade students about following the 3 R’s (reduce,
reuse, recycle), and helped the fifth graders teach the other
students in their schools about the crayon recycling project. For
several years, the ecology class also has operated a community storm
water pollution education program. To raise community awareness,
they stenciled the message “Dump no waste - Drains into our
Vermillion” (the local river) on each of the city’s storm drains.
The students also created and distributed fliers and submitted
articles to local newspapers to educate the community about storm
water pollution and the stenciling activity.
Continuous Improvement
Small company
Lansing Cleaners, Lansing –
Lansing
Cleaners,
in 2005,
replaced its last remaining Perc machine with a dry cleaning machine
using an environmentally friendly solvent. This machine eliminated
the use of a highly regulated chlorine based solvent, and lowered
energy costs. This resulted in greater efficiency, while producing
a superior product for
Lansing’s
clients. Lansing also has installed LED lighting systems that are
90+ efficient, which has lowered its electrical consumption and
demand for secondary lighting for its facility. The cleaner also
installed instantaneous hot water systems to eliminate the typical
hot water tank system. Finally, Lansing increased its fleet of
natural gas powered trucks from five to eight. This allowed the
company to lower its use of gasoline and its harmful emissions while
increasing the engine life of its trucks.
R.B. White, Inc., Bloomington – R.B. White is a
sheet metal fabrication facility. In 1997, R.B. White began using a
new state-of-the-art powder coating system. Since then, the company
has prevented a total of 225 tons of potential Volatile Organic
Company (VOC) emissions through this change. The powder coating
conversion also: reduced worker exposure to harmful solvents;
improved transfer efficiency, recovery, and reuse of overspray; and
provided superior finish with greater durability and improved
corrosion resistance. Another benefit of the powder coating system
is reduced energy usage. The currently used powder curing process
uses convection heating at a savings of as much as $15,000 per
month. Implementation of the powder coating system also has enabled
R.B. White to expand its business to other companies.
Large company
GE Healthcare, Arlington Heights-
GE Healthcare is a manufacturer of radiopharmaceuticals. In 2005,
GE Healthcare implemented energy conservation, water conservation,
and waste reduction projects. By ramping down power to critical
manufacturing equipment during scheduled idle times, an estimated
total of 938,054 Kilowatt-hours a year will be conserved. The
energy savings is equivalent to the annual electrical consumption of
40 single-family homes ($51,500). The use of polystyrene packaging
material was discontinued in favor of an air filled recyclable
material. This freed up an estimated 18,000 cubic feet of sanitary
landfill space and saved GE Healthcare customers an estimated
$13,000 per year. A multifunctional team from the Arlington Heights
site also provided guidance and expertise to its satellite facility
in New Jersey on a project, which reduced wastewater effluents by
48%.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2006/Oct/28/images/ads/current/medicap%20bcard%207-22-05.jpg) Abbott, Abbott Park- Abbott
is a health care company that manufactures and markets medical
products. The company undertook the following projects in 2005:
·
The use of methanol, a Hazardous Air Pollutant, was
eliminated in an antibiotic manufacturing process. This resulted in
a 95% reduction of HAP emissions, the elimination of wastewater
generation, and a saving of $108,000.
·
Compressed air leaks were fixed throughout the
facility resulting in a 2,168,000-kWh/yr energy reduction, a C02
emission reduction of 2.5 million pounds per year, and annual
savings of $106,000.
·
Disposable apparel was replaced with reusable
clothing, resulting in the diversion of
12,500 lbs of waste from a landfill each
year and a savings of $168,600.
·
Reducing the frequency of a purified water flush
resulted in a reduction of 353,600 gallons of water and a savings of
$17,672.
ITT Bell & Gossett, Morton Grove- ITT
Bell & Gossett switched from a solvent-based paint to a waterborne
paint. It is estimated that this change will save Bell & Gossett
$160,000 a year and will eliminate the need for any extensive EPA
Title V reporting. The company has reduced its potential air
emissions by over 60%. By eliminating the used paint waste solvent,
paint filters and associated waste are now sent to a landfill,
eliminating the need for specialized waste disposal. The company’s
status will go from a large quantity waste generator status to a
small quantity generator and it will have drastically reduced the
fire and explosion risk. The change also is healthier for
employees, as exposure concentrations have also been significantly
lowered due to spraying a much less volatile paint that is HAP free.
Gates Corporation, Galesburg- Gates
mixes slab rubber stock for five other Gates hose manufacturing
facilities. Recent pollution prevention projects include:
·
A replacement project in the Carbon Black Handling
system that has saved $280,000 per year, reduced waste to the
landfill, improved raw material usage, and lowered maintenance
costs.
·
Certain process cleanout materials are now used once
and then incorporated into the finished product – resulting in a
$28,000 per year savings.
·
Improved controls and automating in the cooling tower
have saved an estimated three million gallons of water per year.
·
Lowering the boiler steam pressure, using low-melt raw
materials bags to reduce landfill waste, selling all pallets to a
local metal manufacturing plant, and obtaining incoming raw
materials in either bulk or returnable containers.
Nestle’ USA, Jacksonville- Nestle USA
manufactures and packages Coffee-mate®. Environmental projects in
2005 that resulted in a combined estimated savings of $250,000
include:
·
A tank farm water use reduction project was initiated
to conserve water and reduce effluent. Timers were installed on all
wash stations to reduce the chance of operator error in leaving on
water hoses.
·
Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) units were installed on
two cooling towers and an air compressor to control motor speed and
reduce energy use.
·
Ultrasonic detection devices were purchased to aid in
identifying and repairing steam leaks.
·
During plant “shut down” the chilled water temperature
is raised for energy conservation
·
Tank car condensate was previously dumped into the
sewer. All condensate returns are now piped to a recovery tank and
reused in the boiler.
Caterpillar-Mossville Engine Center,
Mossville – Caterpillar has changed to a greener
packaging technology, with a focus on increasing profitability and
social responsibility. The company worked with suppliers to
eliminate waste associated with cardboard, plastic and plywood
packaging. These changes range from
switching to re-usable plastic tubs from cardboard and metal tubs,
to the entire re-design of a gear tray that allows ergonomic
assembly and recycling of the plastic tray. Continual savings were
achieved through material price reductions and waste volume
reduction. Total savings for 2005 equaled $1.7 million, while total
waste volume reduction equaled nearly 1.2 million pounds. The
project has resulted in environmental benefits of reduced landfill
burden, reduced material prices for Caterpillar, increased supplier
efficiency, and has significantly impacted employee health and
safety through improved assembly line ergonomics.
Cardinal Health-McGaw Park,
Cardinal Health provides health care products and services. The
company instituted a project to reduce its packaging by five
percent, or 3.2 million pounds. This goal was met early, with
results that were over the target goal. Employees throughout
Cardinal Health participated by generating ideas, documenting
improvements, and helping with experiments that were necessary to
implement changes to these medical packages.
Cardinal was able to implement a reduction of
over 3.328 million pounds of packaging materials annually with an
additional 554,000 lbs of waste reduction identified in pending
projects. Projected cost savings are $4.7 million annually and a
potential for additional savings that could total to $1.4 million
with on going projects.
Continental Tire North America (CTNA),
Mount Vernon- Continental Tire manufactures radial tires. The
company is ISO 14000 Certified and views pollution prevention as one
of its core business practices. CTNA decreased the volume of its
byproducts sent to landfill by 7.3 million pounds in 2005. CTNA now
recycles 71% of all of the waste and by-products that are generated
at the plant. CTNA also conserves resources through re-processing a
variety of rubber components. Other project resulted in plant
lighting being modified to reduce energy usage by 50%, natural gas
consumption was reduced by 3.5%, and water usage was reduced by 5%.
Harris Corporation’s Broadcast Communication
Division (BCD), Quincy- Harris manufactures radio and
television transmitters. BCD’s pollution prevention projects
included:
·
Designing a closed loop cooling water system to eliminate cooling
water discharges.
·
Recovering process heat for use to pre-heat incoming city water, to
heat two metal finishing rinses and to aid in the heating of the
facility and drying of parts.
·
Using
spray guns to increase material transfer efficiency and reduce
annual paint filter disposal costs.
·
Reducing the toxicity of materials used in the manufacturing
process.
·
Replacing a traditional parts washer with a virtually waste-free
unit.
·
Upgrading a variety of facility lighting applications to reduce
energy and improve lighting.
International Truck & Engine Corporation,
Melrose Park- IT&E produces diesel engines for midsized trucks
and school buses. This plant is one of the first diesel engine
manufacturers in North America to be ISO 14001 certified. In 2005,
the company modified its engine testing system to recover and reuse
the fuel flushed out of its test engines. Because of this process
change, International reused 35,510 gallons of fuel, resulting in an
annual savings of $168,170 in waste disposal costs. Last year,
International also saved more than $500,000 through its Reduce,
Reuse, and Recycle efforts.
Service Organization
St. Joseph's Hospital, Breese-
St. Joseph’s has over the past decade been preparing medical imaging
processes for transition from film to digital viewing. This has now
been accomplished, and with the exception of mammography, medical
imaging services are entirely digital. This eliminates the need for
costly film and decreases use of valuable natural resources such as
silver. St. Joseph’s also has identified a vendor to recycle
corrugated cardboard, preventing 50,400 pounds of cardboard from
entering the landfill in 2005. Additionally, 2,000 pounds of “junk
mail” and 1,755 pounds of desk paper were recycled. Medical waste
was reduced through acquisition of a special washer for surgical
suction canister content disposal, and through employee education
and surveillance activities. Styrofoam utilization was decreased by
83% through replacement with reusable products.
The hospital donates used or outdated medical
equipment to mission programs rather than placing it into the waste
stream and has projects for battery, aluminum, and other paper
product recycling. Additionally, in an effort to reduce mercury,
the hospital screens new products for mercury content prior to
purchase.
Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System (SBLHS),
Charleston/Mattoon- SBLHS established a committee to examine
ways to improve the organization’s conservation efforts. Working
with local and state officials, the company identified steps needed
to establish long-term and sustainable pollution prevention efforts.
SBLHS conducted a building energy audit and waste audit. The
organization installed upgraded lighting bulbs and fixtures with
more efficient models, and recycled cardboard. These steps resulted
in substantial savings, which Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System can
direct to healthcare priorities in the community. SBLHS continue to
identify alternative environmentally responsible products for use
and is exploring utilizing vermicomposting to eliminate food waste.
Innovate Illinois Award
The Innovate Illinois Award is presented to
Caterpillar’s Mossville Engine Center, Mossville, for its
Advanced Combustion Emissions Reduction Technology (ACERT). ACERT
recovers exhaust energy through series turbo charging and uses the
energy to manage airflow into the combustion chamber with an
electronically controlled variable intake valve. The fuel system
allows for multiple injections throughout each combustion cycle;
small amounts of fuel are injected at precise times to achieve the
combined goals of fuel economy and lower emissions. This
optimization translates into air pollution prevention, energy
resource conservation, and a cost savings for every ACERT engine
customer in Illinois and throughout the world. In future years,
ACERT will save businesses and residents over $201 million over the
life of the engines sold in Illinois. The technology also
translates into significant pollution prevention to Illinois air,
and economic and health benefits to Illinois businesses and
residents.
[News release] |