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Success Stories - Midsize Organizations
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NEC Electronics America, Inc.—Manufacturing Facility in Roseville, CA
The test wafer is a key component of the waste reduction efforts at NEC Electronics America’s manufacturing plant in Roseville. Composed of more than 99 percent silicon, test wafers are used to verify process parameters in the production of semiconductors. In 2004, the company saved more than $360,000 by reusing wafers, eliminating the need to purchase approximately 36,000 new wafers and preventing the use of more than 4,000 pounds of virgin material. The company recycled another 1,115 pounds of wafers and purchased new wafers containing 100 percent recycled content. Overall, NEC Electronics America’s manufacturing plant in Roseville has an impressive 78 percent waste diversion rate.
Guardian Automotive– Ligonier Plant
In producing automotive glass, Indiana-based Guardian Automotive takes great measures to debunk the myth that “industry” equals “waste.” Ligonier Plant reduced the overall amount of trash it generated by 464,000 pounds in 2003 as compared to 2001, saving more than $13,800 in disposal costs. With a strong commitment to waste prevention, Guardian launders and reuses cloth gloves and towels and found a company that will reuse its Gaylord boxes instead of recycling them. This action diverted 22,770 pounds of corrugated cardboard from the landfill and saved Guardian $1,380. The company also recycled 25 million pounds of material in 2003—an impressive number for a company with only 519 employees. Guardian attributes much of its success to its employees— since they are on the waste reduction “front line”—and solicits their suggestions about how to improve plant waste reduction initiatives. The Ligonier Plant is a prominent member of the community, and its employees often visit schools to discuss the importance of waste reduction. The company also enjoys the recognition it receives from local media.
Guardian Automotive pays close attention to the connection between waste and climate change. In 2003, the Ligonier Plant’s emission reductions were equivalent to removing more than 1,000 cars from the road for one year!
NEC Electronics America, Inc.—Manufacturing Facility in Roseville, CA
In 2002, NEC Electronics America, Inc. (NECELAM) reduced waste by 6 percent at its Roseville Facility. The company attributes this impressive accomplishment to its employees, who reused more than 21 tons of equipment and recycled nearly 300 tons of materials. NEC uses an Environmental Health & Safety Intranet site to communicate waste reduction goals to employees. The site lists contact information for recycling personnel, identifies recycling drop-off sites, provides waste prevention ideas, and highlights company progress.
Guardian Industries—Ligonier Plant
Guardian Industries in Ligonier, Indiana, an automotive glass manufacturer, has a diverse waste reduction program that finds ways to divert materials traditionally disposed of in the manufacturing process. In 2000, Guardian saved $26,100 and 2,868 pounds of cloth by laundering gloves instead of disposing of them and by implementing a glove return program. The facility also laundered wiping cloths after substituting them for paper towels, eliminating 1,600 pounds of paper towel waste and 9,350 pounds of cloth waste from the waste stream. Guardian converts what would normally be waste material into a raw material by recycling all glass that is not used as an end product. The glass is returned to the raw glass plants for reuse or purchased by cullet vendors to be made into glass beads for bead blasting, fiberglass, or reflective paint for highways. In addition, Guardian manufactures millions of wind-shields each year and uses a new razor blade for each piece of glass. By recycling 7.5 tons of these discarded razor blades along with 92 tons of scrap steel, the plant diverted a total of 99.5 tons of steel from the waste stream in 2000 and saved $2,192. Guardian halted the incineration of scrap wood by having the wood chipped and reused as animal bedding or landscaping material, giving a second life to more than 146 tons of wood. In 2000, it recycled 43 tons of corrugated cardboard and 34 tons of mixed paper, saving $4,330. In addition to spending $3,096 on recycled-content materials in 2000, Guardian purchased 7,740 pounds of recycled-content 55-gallon drums, saving $6,787.
Amtrak
The 700 employees at Amtrak’s Los Angeles Union Station and mechanical facilities constantly learn about and implement new ways to reduce waste. In 2000, the employees of Los Angeles implemented ideas for reducing waste such as switching to reusable cups, refillable pens, and duplex copying. Additionally, revenue generated from recycling was used to buy employees T-shirts, hats, and duffel bags made from recycled materials. The company saved $3,000 by beginning a toner refill program and eliminated 500 pounds of waste. Through a materials exchange, Amtrak promoted the internal reuse of items such as office supplies, cleaning supplies, and packing peanuts. Through increased recycling and diversion, it eliminated two trash compactors, saving $33,700. Finally, the company spent more than $7,000 on recycled-content products in 2000.
Bert Fish Medical Center
Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, tries to cultivate a climate that lets employees and patients know it cares about the environment. In 2000, the medical center hosted a biannual giveaway in which employees brought excess supplies—normally discarded—to a central location for exchange. During a recent demolition of an old portion of the hospital, the center held a community yard sale that generated $3,000 by selling furniture and memorabilia. The medical center also diverted approximately 300 pounds of packaging from a landfill in 2000 by having a large receptacle for staff to deposit packaging peanuts or bubble wrap for reuse.
PolyOne—Engineered Films Group
PolyOne Engineered Films Group is part of PolyOne Corporation, a world-wide polymer services company with locations in Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Winchester, Virginia; and Yerington, Nevada, The Group strives to reduce the amount of solid waste it landfills by 10 percent every year. Its Winchester plant alone diverted more than 925 tons of materials from the waste stream in 2000. After achieving ISO 14001 certification in 2000, PolyOne’s Winchester plant trained employees at all levels on new environmental management procedures, tracked and reported monthly waste reduction figures to all employees, and created production floor teams to resolve any excess waste problems. As one example of its solid waste reduction pro-gram, the Winchester plant reuses large plastic bags, used to cover unfinished products during final stages of production, until they are dirty or torn. When no longer usable, the bags are collected and recycled into plastic lumber.
Siemens Automotive Corporation
Siemens Automotive Corporation’s Newport News, Virginia, facility saved $27,750 in 2000 by reusing pallets internally instead of purchasing new pallets and recycling the pallets that could not be reused. With a goal of recovering 750 pallets, the organization actually recovered 2,484 pallets for a tremendous cost savings. Additionally, the company conducted an employee awareness pro-gram on the reuse of lab coats in its clean rooms, decreasing the disposal of lab coats by 33 percent and saving $20,952.
Bert Fish Medical Center
In 1999, Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, established a comprehensive waste prevention plan targeting used linens and gowns no longer suitable for patients. The medical center saved nearly $10,000 by switching from disposable to reusable hospital gowns. It also donated 1,300 pounds of used linens to a local charity and animal shelter for use as animal bedding and 4,420 pounds of food to a local food bank.
Guardian Automotive, Inc.—Ligonier Plant
As a WasteWise award winner for 4 years running, this Indiana-based automotive glass manufacturer shows its continued commitment to reducing waste through the newly established Guardian Industries—Ligonier Plant’s Recycling Center. The center has enabled the company to increase its processing of recyclables in 2001, including 74 tons of corrugated cardboard that saved the company more than $5,600. Guardian also collected and recycled 250 tons of steel, along with large amounts of paper, plastic, and non-ferrous metals. In 2001, Guardian Industries stopped 515 tons of material from being disposed of and saved more than $111,000.
Guardian continued a glove reuse program that launders and reuses nearly 3 tons of gloves, preventing an additional 2 tons of new gloves from ending up in the trash and saving Guardian Industries almost $48,000! The company switched from disposable paper towels to a washable material, avoiding more than 1 ton of landfilled wiping cloths. In addition, Guardian Industries sends its leftover wood scraps to a recycler that chips it to be used as animal bedding and landscape material, preventing nearly 132 tons of wood from incineration. As for internal WasteWise promotion, and to thank its employees for their recycling efforts, Guardian purchased shirts bearing the WasteWise logo for each employee!
NEC Electronics, Inc.
Rather than throwing away surplus inventory this past year, NEC Electronics, Inc. sold equipment, furniture, and other extras through a public online auction that resulted in $100,000 of direct revenue for the innovative company. NEC employees also purchased electronics and furniture through a private auction. Through these measures, the company sold nearly 18 tons of materials for reuse and then donated several tons of furniture to classrooms. NEC also established the Employee Re-Use Center, providing a means for employees to obtain used office supplies rather than purchase new replacements. The company is progressing with plans to establish an Intranet site with recycling information and events, such as its Earth Day celebration that more than 600 people attended.
This California-based company also made innovative advances in reducing waste from office products. NEC continued its toner cartridge reuse program, which diverted the disposal of 500 pounds of printer cartridges and allowed NEC to purchase toner at lower prices. The company networked many of its computers so employees can print directly to the copy machine, reducing paper use, toner use, and equipment maintenance, and saving NEC $20,000 in 2001.
As for reducing semiconductor production materials, NEC used a pilot program to sell more than 9 tons of material no longer useable in production for reuse in other areas. The company also distributed new recycling containers in one of its cafeterias and placed bins in every office. Widespread distribution of mixed paper collection boxes increased paper recycling by an estimated 15 to 20 percent, and newspaper bins placed in parking lots encouraged workers to bring in old issues from home. NEC refined its practice for recycling lawn and tree clippings, saving nearly $4,000 a year. The company also increased its purchase of products made from recycled material, including 100 percent recycled-content toilet paper and trash bags containing half the plastic of traditional liners. As a result of successfully achieving WasteWise goals, NEC diverted more than 247 tons of waste from disposal in 2001.
DTE Energy
Stemming from Detroit’s first light bulb manufacturer and electric utility, DTE Energy has innovated new ideas for nearly 120 years, and the company’s environmental practices are no exception. This Michigan-based energy provider demonstrated its environmental commitment in 1994 by becoming a Charter Partner of the WasteWise program, making annual advances in waste prevention and recycling. In 2001, the company formalized its longstanding waste minimization/pollution prevention program by forming a committee to quantify environmental expectations and qualifications for contractors and suppliers, assigning a pollution prevention representative to each plant, and completing a pollution prevention survey for every coal-fired generating plant.
The company expanded its use of electronic media as a replacement for paper in 2001. Two electronic newsletters replaced paper copies, along with the 10-page annual internal survey, phone directory, and company policies, which are no longer available in paper form. DTE Energy devoted a chapter of the company’s contract administrator training manual to pollution prevention, waste reduction, and environmental management.
DTE Energy’s computer recovery program completed another successful year—generating zero waste. The company donated 227 computers, recycled more than 8,000 CPUs, monitors, keyboards, and circuit boards, and resold $36,000 worth of parts. It also generated $31,000 from used furniture sales and nearly $7,000 from the sale of other items. The company reached these increased level of sales through a new partnership with Goodwill Industries and the development of an online sales Web site.
DTE Energy purchased large amounts of paper towels and toilet tissue containing postconsumer recycled content, while collecting huge quantities of various materials for recycling. By recycling metal within used computers alone, the company avoided the production of GHGs equivalent to taking nearly 2,000 cars off the road this past year! It recycled an additional 500 tons of paper products, more than 221 tons of wood, and large amounts of ash, glass, and plastic.
Southern Mills, Inc.
Southern Mills, a textile company of 575 employees in Senoia, Georgia, manufactures thermal protective fabrics with end-use applications such as outer shells of firemen’s turnout coats and garments used in the petroleum, electrical, and gas utilities industries among other products. Southern Mills saved 8.5 tons of corrugated material by switching to reusable plastic cones and tubes and by initiating a plastic tube return program with customers. The company also reduced 1,100 pounds of coated paper drums by switching to a tote and delivery system for dyes and chemicals.
Schlegel Systems
Schlegel Systems, a Rochester, New York, manufacturer of foam weather stripping, EMI shielding devices, and plastic trim for automobiles, worked with suppliers to reuse incoming pallets for outgoing shipments, conserving more than 12.5 tons of wood pallets and $6,500. The company also conserved more than 20 tons of fiber board, steel, plastic, and boxboard by switching from single-use cores and spools to reusable materials, saving more than $13,000.
Schlegel Systems, Inc.
By reusing plastic pallets, reels, and containers for interdepartmental use, Schlegel eliminated 16 tons of waste and saved $15,000. Schlegel also eliminated paper container waste by switching to plastic containers for storing tools and buckets for cleaning, saving $1,500 and removing 1 ton from the waste stream.
Southern Mills, Inc.
Southern Mills is constantly changing product specifications and improving procedures to reduce the amount of inferior-quality yarn and disposal of fabric. These actions decreased the purchase of raw materials by more than 17 tons. By improving packaging for yarns and reusing boxes, Southern Mills also was able to reduce the amount of purchased boxes by 12 tons. The combined efforts of reducing textile and packaging waste saved the company $13,000.