Hazardous Waste > Governor's Award > 1996 Winners

Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention and Sustainable Practices

1996 Winners

Rainier Ballistics, Tacoma

• Makes bullets from lead cores and copper electroplating; employs 22 people.
• Changed electroplating process to reduce the use of alkaline soak material and increase the life of the bath by as much as 20%.
• Eliminated “brightening,” which reduced the contaminants entering the plating baths and extended the life of the soak bath by 600%.
• No longer discharges wastewater.
• Eliminated wastewater from the acid activation tank through new evaporation systems; buying 10% less sodium hypochlorite and cyanide now.
• Changed pre-plating process to eliminate parts washing; eliminated 300-500 gallons per week of wastewater. Employees no longer risk back strain from this operation.
• Spray lubricant system reuses all lubricants are not consumed in the operation.
•  Designed new system to recycle 300,000 pounds of lead scrap each year. Recycles waste oil and all other scrap metal.

Container-Care, Seattle

• Stores and repairs intermodal containers and chassis; employs 65 people.
• Now use High-Volume /Low Pressure and airless paint systems for large paint jobs.
• Switched from solvent-based to alcohol-based aerosol cleaners and  improved employee training; dropped hazardous waste generation from 18,235 lbs in 1992 to 3,949 pounds in 1995.
• Collect, recycle and reuse wastewater. This reduced water and waste fees.

Fleetwood Homes, Woodland

• Produce manufactured homes.
• Aggressively pursued process changes and product substitutions.
• Process change in painting virtually eliminated volatile organic compound and toxic emissions. Changes also eliminated stormwater pollution concerns.
• Reformulated urethane material in favor of a non-ozone depleting compound.
• Buying materials in bulk containers, such as sealant in 55 gallon drums that replaces 704 individual cartridges.

Kaiser Aluminum, Spokane

• Integrated aluminum sheet and plate rolling mill; employs more than 1,400. Primary market for recycling aluminum on US west coast.
• Reduced oxidation losses and improved skim recovery save approximately 7 million pounds of aluminum; equivalent 210 million beverage cans.
• Reduced solid waste by about 10,000 tons per year.
• Eliminates fugitive emissions by using coating room exhaust as oven make-up air.
• Counter rinsing cuts wastewater and reduces sludge by at least 1,000 tons per year.
• Non-chromium surface pre-treatment process avoids 2,500 tons per year of hazardous waste sludge.
• Reduced daily water use by about eight million gallons.

McChord Air Force Base (near Tacoma)

• Maintains fleet of C-141B aircraft; employs 8,013.
• Achieved 50% recycling goal; reduced solid waste disposal by 29% in one year.
• Diverted 2.2 million pounds of hazardous materials from their waste stream during 1993 to 1996.
• Reduced lead waste stream by using laser pistols for training. C141 flying simulators save 15 million gallons of jet fuel each year.
• Eliminated black and white photography; all-color photography reduced the silver-bearing paper waste stream by 50% and conserves water.
• Installed a media blast facility for stripping and painting, which reduced hazardous waste by 75% in seven months.
• Reduced the disposal of water-contaminated jet fuel from 18,750 to only 100 gallons by putting a dome over the bulk fuel storage tanks.
• New solvent recovery system reduced waste solvent by 7,356 gallons; antifreeze recovery units reduced waste antifreeze by nearly 90%.
• Started a “Hazmat Pharmacy,” and reduced hazardous waste stockpiles in work centers by 50%. Also reduced the use of Methyl Ethyl Ketone by 55%.

University of Washington Environmental Health and Safety Department, Seattle

• Protects the health and safety of the schools 2,500 employees and 3,500 students.
• In 1995, eliminated 66,100 pounds of chemical waste.
• Reduced the need to buy virgin chemicals and the volume of waste through surplus chemical redistribution program. Redistributed 1,300 pounds in 1994 and 1,100 pounds in 1995. Distilled and returned for re-use more than 495 gallons of mixed xylenes, 123 gallons of acetone, and 77 gallons of formalin.
• New filter reduced waste anthodium bromide, a powerful human mutagen, by 95% and reduced use by 535 gallon s in 1995.

1996 Continuing Excellence:

Fluke Corporation, Everett

• Designs and makes electronic test tools, employs 1,600.
• Generated 992 tons of waste in 1991; dropped by 41% to 585 tons in 1995.
• Diverts all recyclables from the solid waste stream; 170 tons per year.
• Saves close to 30 million gallons per year of water from two shops.
• Cut circuit board scrap by 50% and save over $10,000 per year
• Eliminated use of mercury batteries, and heavy metals in packaging inks and components.

Johnson Matthey Electronics, Spokane

• Makes components for the semiconductor industry; employs 500.
• Switched from freon to non-hazardous perfluorocarbon.
• Reduced disposal cost for sludge by finding a company that takes it to recover the nickel. Found a company that takes the waste acetone for their feedstock.
• Switched from 1,1,1-trichlorethane for cleaning aluminum wire to an organic solvent that does a better job.
• New thermal hydrolysis system to deal with cyanide eliminates the use of hypochlorite or chlorine gas.
• Reduced daily wastewater from 21,000 gallons in 1993 to 13,000 gallons in 1995, while increasing production by 40%.
• Reduced air emissions by 80 % from 1992 to 1995.
• Increased recycling of hazardous waste to 77% in 1995 from 11% in 1992. Disposal costs dropped by $6.91 per 1,000 grams of metal sold.