Toxics Use Reduction Case Studies
Columbia Manufacturing, Inc. 2005.
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| Columbia Manufacturing Inc. in Westfield, Massachusetts eliminated the use of 150,000 gallons of water per day in their plating operations. Columbia saved $80,000 in sewer fees, among other cost savings, by upgrading the plating equipment and integrating a zero discharge wastewater treatment system. The new, efficient plating line enables the company to recover and reuse 98% of the plating chemistry resulting in a drastic reduction of hazardous waste generation. Download PDF file (22.13 kB) |
Alpha Gary Corporation. 2005.
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| In 1998, the AlphaGary Corporation (www.alphagary.com) successfully launched a Lead Reduction Pilot Program, in which they evaluated the use of alternatives to lead compounds in their products, while producing materials of equivalent or improved quality. This evaluation allowed the company to successfully incorporate these alternatives into their design process, thereby reducing the amount of time to bring new products to market. By 2004, the company experienced a 30% reduction in the use of lead and lead compounds, as well as reducing other toxic materials such as cadmium compounds and other heavy metals. Download PDF file (23.03 kB) |
Cranston Print Works, Inc. -- Water Conservation. 2003.
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| An employee-owned company, Cranston Print Works Co. (CPW) achieved annual savings of over 110 million gallons of water and over $350,000 in costs by implementing 25 water conservation projects. These savings are attributed to the CPW's Water Conservation Team, which was formed in response to the company's commitment to continuous quality improvement. Download PDF file (133.93 kB) |
GKN Sinter Metals Corporation. 2003.
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| GKN Sinter Metals Corporation (formerly known as The PresMet Corporation) implemented an on-site pretreatment and recycling operation, including a Hyde ultrafiltration unit that reduced GKN's total plant fresh water consumption by over 8 million gallons per year and soap consumption by more than 6,000 gallons per year. The same pretreatment operation also resulted in the reduction of copper, fat, oil, and grease to levels below the limits established by the local publicly owned treatment works (POTW). In addition to the environmental benefits, the installation of the pretreatment system resulted in savings of over $78,000 per year. Download PDF file (26.17 kB) |
Crane and Company, Inc. 2003.
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| Crane & Company, Inc. reduced the use of sulfuric acid by approximately 697,000 lbs and sodium hypochlorite by 576,000 lbs between 1999 and 2000, a combined reduction of about 46%. The company achieved these reductions by modifying the process chemistry for the re-pulping of off-specification papers. The sulfuric acid was replaced with an innovative liquid carbon dioxide system and the sodium hypochlorite was reduced by specifying cleaner raw materials, and by controlling the temperature and pH of the process. Download PDF file (36.43 kB) |
V.H. Blackinton & Co. 2003.
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| In the early 1990's V.H. Blackinton began a continuous improvement program to reduce chemical use and eliminate certain hazardous chemicals. By engaging company employees and working with vendors, along with the help of the Office of Technical Assistance (OTA), V.H. Blackinton eliminated the use of ozone depleting Freon, trichloroethylene (TCE), ammonia, and volatile organic compounds (VOC). The company made substantial investments to modernize their plating and finishing operations, leading to significant reductions in water use and in the use of acids and bases in waste treatment and plating operations. As a result, V.H. Blackinton is no longer required to report under the Toxic Use Reduction Act (TURA) and have closed the loop on their wastewater discharge. Download PDF file (24.72 kB) |
Coyne Textile Services. 2002.
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| Coyne Textile Services, an industrial laundry service, used simple but effective toxics use reduction techniques that resulted in reductions of over 19,000 pounds of chemicals and conservation of 2 million gallons of water. This translates into over $25,000 in savings from the reduction of chemical use and wash loads, plus additional savings from water conservation. Their success in developing these new techniques has established Coyne Textile Services as a leader among their competition. Download PDF file (127.59 kB) |
Inner-Tite Corporation. 2001.
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| Inner-Tite Corporation replaced its existing parts degreasing equipment with two entirely enclosed Forenta degreasing units. The new degreasing equipment has reduced air emissions of trichloroethylene (TCE) by 97% and will save the company over $12,000 annually in avoided chemical purchases. Download PDF file (162.59 kB) |
BOC Edwards. 2001.
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| To improve quality of service and environmental, health and safety performance, BOC Edwards installed an enclosed, automated wash system and closed-loop wastewater treatment unit at its pump-remanufacturing center in Wilmington, MA. The new system recycles nearly 100% of the process water used to clean pump components and decreases waste sludge by approximately 80% compared to previous operations. Download PDF file (134.67 kB) |
Elimination of Acid and Lead on Wire Strand Annealing and Galvanizing, Riverdale Mills Corp. 2000.
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| TURI Technical Report No. 48. Requiring the addition of a new multi-wire strand galvanizing line to meet growing market demand, Riverdale Mills made the goals of toxics use reduction a large part of the operational requirements of the new line. The company sought to reduce or eliminate the chemicals conventionally used in the process, the byproducts generated and the energy required. These goals required the innovative re-thinking of a mature industrial process. Riverdale Mills chose an induction heating chamber for the annealing process, eliminating the use of lead in the conventional liquid lead annealing process. Following annealing, commercial hot-dip wire galvanizing operations typically use hydrochloric acid in a pickling process, and zinc ammonium chloride as a flux prior to immersion into the zinc bath. Modifying the annealing process and annealing within an inert atmosphere replaced both the pickling and the flux processes; these were replaced by an alkaline soap pre-wash and hot water rinse. Re-engineering the process to eliminate the need to re-heat the wire during processing achieved significant energy savings. Download PDF file (55.55 kB) |
Developing and Analyzing Lead-Free Soldering Processes for Printed Wiring Boards. 2000.
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| TURI Technical Report No. 52. Researchers on this project formed an industry-led "UMASS Lead-Free Consortium" (the Consortium) of local and national companies to evaluate various emerging alternatives to lead-based solders and finishes. The consortium members donated expertise, time, materials and equipment to this project. The various alternatives to lead-bearing materials, surface finishes and manufacturing processes were evaluated as factors in a set of designed experiments, and compared the results to a baseline of standard leaded processes and materials, using the quality characteristics of visual, mechanical and thermal testing criteria. The Manufacturing Research Laboratory facilities at UMASS Lowell were utilized to test and analyze the performance of alternatives based on the principles of Design of Experiments. Results were analyzed using statistical techniques resulting in determining whether a particular factor was significant to the quality characteristic being measured. A theoretical percent contribution to the total quality characteristic was calculated for significant factors. Download PDF file (307.96 kB) |
Hampden Papers. 2001.
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| In an ongoing effort to limit emissions and reduce use of hazardous chemicals, Hampden Papers spent four years researching, developing, testing and implementing a new coatings formulation used in over 70% of the company's manufacturing capabilities. The new formulation helps Hampden Papers reduce annual VOC emissions by 4-6 tons. More significantly, the change eliminates the use of ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and thereby frees the company from filing requirements under both the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) and Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) Section 313. Download PDF file (22.92 kB) |
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