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MAPP Plastics Discussion Forum

The MAPP Plastic Industry Discussion Forum allows members to rapidly communicate with each other. Post both questions and answers to questions that other MAPP members have about any industry topic from material and process issues to R&E Tax Credits and other business issues.

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Plastic Industry Forum - Converse with Plastics Processing Leaders / Business / Plastics Business Sustainability

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Posted: 18 Aug 2008 23:37
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 20 Join Date: May 2008
I’m asking for input from plastics industry professionals on any formal/ informal efforts that you are making on the subject of “Sustainability”. Under the heading of “Sustainability”: What are you doing to reduce energy consumption? What are you doing to reduce waste/ scrap/ landfill/ dumpster/ landfill? What are you doing to conserve resources like water or usage of miscellaneous materials in your operation? Other ideas? Tom Duffey

Posted: 18 Aug 2008 23:40
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 37 Join Date: May 2008
Tom, Following are some things that we are doing – most of them are fairly basic: Energy Consumption: *We’ve upgraded all of our HVAC equipment, replacing our old boiler with a new heating-a/c unit that has an economizer; We’ve also replaced all of our thermostats with timer thermostats; we’ve upgraded our fluorescent lighting to newer, energy efficient ballasts; we’re looking into replacing the halogen lights in our warehouse with fluorescent lighting with motion sensors. Reduced Waste / Scrap: We regrind runners and scrap parts on most jobs (who doesn’t these days?); we’ve tried to recycle our purge, but we constantly have issues keeping the material grades properly separated; **we’ve setup a recycling bin for paper and cardboard products. Regards, Mike Walter

Posted: 19 Aug 2008 15:18
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 170 Join Date: May 2008
Tom, Dorel Juvenile Group has an incredible story about what they have done to reduce waste going into the landfill. In fact, this initiative was so important to them, they actually used Lean Problem Solving Tools to significantly reduce their waste stream. To learn more, I would strongly encourage you to contact Scott Wagner, Operations Manager at 812-372-0141 x4470 or email (SWagner@djgusa.com). Dorel has taken lean manufacturing and the components to a Best-in-class level. Troy Nix

Posted: 19 Aug 2008 15:28
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 170 Join Date: May 2008
Tom, from an environmental standpoint, one company that has taken Green to a new level is Cascade Engineering Inc. In fact, part of Cascade's company mission point includes protecting the environment. They not only actively work on removing waste for the landfill stream, but they also have many other initiatives including water conservation. I feel that Cascade Engineering Inc is one of the leading molders in the United States in these initiatives. Contact Fred Keller, President & CEO, 616-975-4800 or email at (kellerf@cascadeng.com) Troy Nix

Posted: 19 Aug 2008 15:48
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 43 Join Date: May 2008
Tom: Hopefully, this input will be helpful even though injection molding is not the only type of plastics processing we do at Parish. We have always collected and sold our scrap film to a recycler – for revenue, yes, but also to keep it out of the landfill. We regrind and use 90(+)% of injection molding spoils. We send film cores back to our suppliers for reuse (they are not recyclable). This action reduces our trash (to landfill) by a minimum of ten cubic yards per week. The bulk of our products have always supported “sustainability” via source reduction – the packaging materials we manufacture require less material than counterpart glass or metal. We continually look for materials and designs to further reduce material use. Thank you for making the time to represent MAPP. Let me know if I can help in any other manner. Dan Cunningham

Posted: 21 Aug 2008 14:26
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 48 Join Date: May 2008
At YIP we are relamping our building this year with energy efficient lighting (T5s). PA offers a tax credit if completed by the end of the year. We also have a scrap hauler that takes and recycles all of our plastic scrap including purge. We also donate our used hydraulic oil to a local Amish business that filters it and burns it for heat. We try to eliminate corrugate where we can and promote reuseable containers in our "marketing area". We grind presside and reuse all of our generated runers. Bob Holbrook

Posted: 25 Aug 2008 16:38
Registered User Currently Offline	Posts: 22 Join Date: May 2008
Tom: Here are some basic efforts that we are making at Makuta: Energy Consumption - Cooling Tower: *Replaced low efficient motors with higher efficient motors. Installed Variable Frequency Drives on cooling Tower motors so load of factory is “matched” to cooling tower. Asked Water Company to meter make up water of tower and reduce sewage bill by this amount. (This water evaporates; it does not go down the sewer.) Energy Consumption - Lights: Replaced T12 fluorescent lights with more energy efficient T8 fluorescent lamps. Reduce wattage of outside lighting. Replaced the halogen lamps in Maintenance, Inspection, and warehouse with T8 lamps. Power Factor: **We have installed a capacitor bank to correct our “poor” power factor. We used to have a power factor in the mid 70% range, resulting in a monthly penalty of around $300.00. Installing the capacitor bank corrects our power factor to 100%, resulting in no penalty. Payback was around 10 months. Thanks for sharing all of the ideas with us. I am looking forward to your presentation at Plastec Midwest. Stu Kaplan

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