Washington State Department of Ecology

Department of Ecology News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - April 7, 1999

99-066 through 069

(Note: This is a combination of four regional news releases.)

Contact:

Brian Dick, hazardous-waste and toxics-reduction section supervisor, (509) 454-7659 (CRO)
Doug Jayne, toxics-reduction unit supervisor, (509) 456-6171 (ERO)
Dennis Johnson, toxics-reduction unit supervisor, (425) 649-7040 (NWRO)
Hugh O'Neill, toxics-reduction unit supervisor (360) 407-6354 (SWRO)
Caitlin Cormier, public information officer, (360) 407-6149

Ecology, businesses cut hazardous waste by 78 million pounds in five years

OLYMPIA - Pollution-prevention assistance by the Washington Department of Ecology helped businesses across the state cut the amount of hazardous waste they produce by 78 million pounds from 1992 to 1997.

"This is a success story with multiple benefits," said Greg Sorlie, who manages Ecology's hazardous-waste and toxics-reduction program. "We’ve kept a lot of really hazardous stuff out of the environment, we’ve avoided the need to build more treatment plants and landfills, and also reduced the amount of hazardous waste being hauled on our highways."

He noted that 78 million pounds of hazardous waste would fill 1,950 tanker trucks. Parked bumper to bumper, they would stretch 15 miles.

As a result of the Pollution Prevention Planning Act of 1990, Ecology provides technical assistance to businesses that generate hazardous waste. In 1992, facilities generating at least 2,640 pounds of waste per year were required to participate in pollution-prevention planning.

Ecology works with businesses to find ways to use less-toxic materials in production processes and to generate less hazardous waste.

"We hear from a lot of facilities that are proud of the success they have achieved by implementing elements of their pollution-prevention plans," Sorlie said. "Besides protecting the environment, these projects often save money, improve worker safety and, of course, make companies better neighbors in their communities."

Since 1990, many companies have been open to Ecology’s emphasis on pollution prevention. The system has produced beneficial results, with fewer toxic materials needing disposal or potentially reaching Washington’s ecosystem.

Environmental scientists and engineers at Ecology consult with companies that manufacture products such as circuit boards, chemicals and airplane landing gear. They make suggestions about process improvements, better equipment, using products that are less toxic, and using smaller amounts of hazardous substances in production. All together, these efforts can cut wastes significantly.

"Ecology made us aware of what was attainable and assisted us in making fundamental changes in how we operate," said Bob James, technical director with Industrial Plating Corp. in Seattle. "From 1995 to 1998, we reduced our wastewater discharge by 7.5 million gallons due to managerial control and water re-use. The amount we spent on water for our systems was reduced from $80,000 in 1996 to $27,500 in 1998, saving us $52,500."

(EDITORS NOTE: The following is a listing of companies in your area that have worked with Ecology to reduce their hazardous-waste discharge.)

Central Region

Sunfair Chevrolet in Yakima no longer has to submit pollution-prevention plans to Ecology due to reduced waste generation resulting from improved process management:

Automatic paint-gun washers are used for all gun cleaning. The gun washers have resulted in much less solvent being used and less employee exposure to the solvents.
A computerized paint mixer was installed in 1996 and has greatly reduced waste paint by allowing accurate matching and mixing of the exact quantity for each job.
An aqueous "spin-jet" parts washer was installed in 1997 to clean valve covers and cylinder heads. It replaced an old manual (sink type) parts washer and has eliminated a lot of solvent-based cleaning.

Dowty Aerospace in Yakima now uses a new machine coolant with a useful life of 12 months, compared to the previous product that needed changed every month. This reduces the need for evaporative treatment of spent coolant and cuts disposal costs. The company also installed an aqueous parts washer to do a lot of the cleaning formerly done with its vapor degreaser. The vapor degreaser is now used only for cleaning parts prior to final assembly and/or painting.

Cascade Analytical, Inc. in Wenatchee implemented a combustion method for analyzing organic matter in soil, replacing a chromium-reduction method that used potassium dichromate and concentrated sulfuric acid. The combustion method uses no chemicals and produces no new waste stream. The company also began redistilling hexane, resulting in a significant reduction in flammable waste.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland distills and re-uses formalin, xylene, methanol and other alcohols. These improvements reduced waste by 3.5 metric tons and saved $28,850 in 1997. Also, PNNL’s chemical-redistribution center collected and redistributed chemicals throughout the laboratory, reducing waste by 400 pounds and saving $6,000 in 1997.

Eastern Region

Apollo Spas in Spokane demonstrated a new fiberglass molding process that greatly speeds up production, saves money and reduces approximately 84 percent in styrene emissions. The new process generates a completely cured spa in half an hour, as opposed to the previous curing time of 30 hours. Apollo Spas plans to covert its entire line of products to this process in the near future.

Melcher Manufacturing, a Spokane-area builder of truck-loading ramps, has reduced its acetone use by 98 percent -- from 17,000 pounds in 1991 to 350 pounds per year currently. This effort, combined with purchasing low-styrene resins and using a flow-chopper gun, has resulted in the greatest feasible reduction in hazardous waste and hazardous-substance use.

Northwest Region

Genetic Systems Corporation in Redmond continued its successful Thimersal (an organo-mercury preservative) reduction and recycling program. In 1997, the company reduced its use by 56,000 pounds, recycled 37,000 pounds, and saved $35,200 in 1997 -- adding to its savings of $160,000 in previous years.

Ron Heikkila, environmental health and safety engineer, for Boston Scientific Corporation in Redmond said this about his company’s recent pollution-prevention effort: "Preparing our pollution-prevention plan was a very productive experience. It has helped us carefully review our processes and realize the potential benefits in reducing the amount of hazardous substances we use and wastes we generate. Implementing the pollution-prevention opportunities we have identified should provide significant cost savings, reduce our regulatory burden, increase production efficiency, improve worker safety, and contribute to the environmental quality of our community."

Foamex LP, a foam manufacturer in Kent, reduced methylene chloride use by nearly 300,000 pounds from 1996 to 1997 through system acquisitions and process improvements, even though the company had a 10 percent increase in production.

In its first five-year pollution-prevention plan, Fort James Corporation, a manufacturer of folding cartons for the food and beverage industry in Redmond, eliminated the use of all hazardous inks, coatings and process glues. The company reduced flammable waste by almost 25 percent and eliminated two hazardous-waste streams.

Industrial Plating in Seattle went from nearly 81.4 million pounds of hazardous waste water in 1996 to under 37.7 million pounds in 1997. The company’s water/wastewater bill went from $80,000 per year to $42,000, and the output of F006 sludge decreased from 116,220 pounds to 83,200 pounds. The company has achieved 88 percent of its waste-reduction goal.

Weyerhaeuser Technology Center in Federal Way went from approximately 180,000 pounds of hazardous waste generated in 1991 to 18,000 pounds generated in 1997. None of this waste was recycled in 1991, where 38 percent of the 1997 total was recycled. These efforts allowed Weyerhaeuser to change its status from "large-quantity generator" to "medium-quantity generator," which means they are governed by fewer regulations, such as tight timelines for getting waste offsite, needing a contingency plan for emergencies, and needing a written waste minimization plan.

During its first five-year pollution-prevention plan, Capital Industries, Inc., a metal-fabricating company in Seattle, eliminated the use of trichlorethylene in favor of aqueous metal-parts cleaners. This reduced the its air emissions from 176,000 pounds in 1990 to 64,000 pounds in 1997. The company also reduced the use of metal coatings containing zinc, chromium and lead by more than 90 percent.

Lilly Industries is a coatings manufacturer for the wood-finishing industry in Seattle. In 1997, the company decreased the use of hazardous substances by 331,650 pounds by switching to lower hazardous-air-pollutant (HAP) formulations. The switch also saved $165,800. Lilly Industries exceeded its original pollution-prevention goal by 20 times, while increasing production by 20 percent in 1997.

The Boeing Renton, North Boeing Field and Thompson facilities targeted methyl ethyl ketone and toluene for reduction in 1997. They reduced these hazardous substances by nearly 200,000 pounds and substantially reduced their air emissions. This success was achieved increasing production by 50 percent over their 1996 base year.

Foss Maritime Company has a Seattle-based marine-transportation facility that reduced hazardous-substance use by 37,545 pounds and hazardous-waste disposal by 11,791 pounds between 1992 and 1997. The facility recycled 42,793 pounds of waste. In addition to again targeting these areas in its new pollution-prevention plan, the facility will investigate a new, non-hazardous, anticorrosive ship paint.

Rudd Company, a manufacturer of wood door, cabinet and floor finishes in Seattle, reduced its hazardous-waste disposal by 54 percent between 1991 and 1997 and achieved its pollution-prevention goal. The company reduced hazardous-substance use by 32 percent over the same time.

Sea-Tac International Airport has made substantial pollution-prevention progress in the last few years, while production has remained about the same. From 1995 to 1996, there was a 63 percent decrease in waste generation. In 1997, the airport generated 12,721 pounds of hazardous waste -- a 55 percent reduction from 1996 numbers. The airport also achieved medium-quantity generator status one year ahead of its plan.

Tesoro's Anacortes Refinery reduced API sludge generation by 407,000 pounds, a 77 percent reduction. While this waste stream is somewhat variable from year to year, process improvements contributed to this reduction.

Georgia Pacific completed an oxygen-delignification pre-bleach stage, reducing annual chlorine use by 245,000 pounds per year at its Bellingham mill. The company also began recycling 134,000 pounds per year of lime slaker grits as raw material for a cement kiln.

ARCO’s Cherry Point Refinery near Bellingham installed a silica trap in its naphtha hydrodesulfurization unit, thus slowing contamination of nickel/moly catalyst with silica. After the first year of operation, the run-time on the catalyst was extended from six to more than 12 months (the company estimates it will last 18 months), and waste-catalyst generation was reduced by 178,000 pounds. Also, tests run on the catalyst indicate that, when taken out of service, it probably will not designate as a dangerous waste. The project also reduced hazardous-substance use by 150,000 pounds per year, and saved $385,000 from the initial cost estimate for 1998.

Southwest Region

Morton International, an Elma manufacturer of sodium borohydride, uses methanol in the manufacturing process. The company had been losing 0.158 pounds of methanol (in losses throughout the plant) for every pound of sodium borohydride produced. By 1996, the methanol losses were reduced by 90 percent by eliminating the leaks. The facility was able to determine the methanol capture rate by keeping track of the amount purchased.

Industrial Rubber and Supply was able to switch from methylene chloride-based adhesives to acetone-based formulations that, although flammable, are less toxic then methylene chloride. This resulted in reducing regulated emissions by more than 19 tons per year. The change relieves the regulatory pressure on the facility, brings it into compliance with its new air permit, avoids the threat of penalties, and buys the facility time to search for a more permanent solution.

Harland Printers in Puyallup installed a laser-plate maker that will reduce its plate-making wastes by 80 percent. Annual hazardous-waste generation went from 25,000 pounds to 5,000 pounds.

Tacoma-based Precision Machine Works machines many parts, including airplane landing gear. In 1994, the company was using a machine coolant that contained chlorinated paraffins that became a dangerous waste when spent. That year, the facility sent 73,810 pounds of spent coolant off-site at a cost of approximately $30,000. In subsequent years, the company found a non-chlorinated coolant that performed adequately and also found a way to extend the life of machine coolant.

Columbia Machine, Inc., a metal fabricator located in Ridgefield, was able to reduce its use of toluene by more than 40 percent by improving use and handling techniques. The company started using a non-hazardous degreasing material, which reduced its generator status to small-quantity generator. The change has decreased the risk of hazardous-waste spills, made the facility a safer place to work, and saved a substantial amount of money in the process.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) in Vancouver supplies power to utilities in the Northwest. The Ross Complex, BPA’s central facility for supply and maintenance of the grid, has used more than 2,000 different products historically, many containing toxic substances. In 1998, Ross Complex reviewed its inventory and reduced the number of products used by nearly 50 percent.

Vanalco, Inc. reduced hazardous-fume emissions from aluminum reduction by 26 percent in 1997, and has steadily reduced spent pot-lining generation by increasing how long a pot is used.