Manufacturing Initiatives
Strongwell's "Green" Manufacturing Initiatives
To further reduce the overall environmental footprint of Strongwell FRP composites, conservation improvements are underway within manufacturing. These have already yielded significant reductions in the usage of energy, solvents and landfill capacity, along with reduced generation of scrap, waste and emissions.
| Initiative | Description | Environmental Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Lighting efficiency improvement | Replace lighting with high efficiency bulbs; Implement lighting shutdown protocol | 40 % (6,000 kwh/day)reduction in lighting electricity in 3 manufacturing sites |
| Cleaning solvent usage reduction | Reuse slightly dirty solvent, recycle the rest, add cleaning tank to extend solvent life, line resin pans with plastic | Reduction in new oil-based solvent usage by 25,000 gallons annually |
| Rag disposal reduction | Use rag press to recover solvent and reduce volume of dirty rags; reuse rags | Reduction in hazardous waste disposal by one drum/week |
| Resin and reinforcement waste reduction | Improve machine startup and shutdown, use extra resin elsewhere, reduce pan size for reduced left over waste, injection pultrusion, improved material prep efficiency | Large reduction in embedded energy with products and reduced landfill usage |
| Flame retardant replacement | Identify and use a less hazardous flame retardant system | Reduction in hazardous material handling, usage and disposal |
| Scrap reduction and disposal improvement | Reduce scrap; Sell and donate off-quality material for alternate uses | Reduced material and landfill usage by > 700,000 lbs/yr |
| Personal supplies usage reduction | Allocate supplies rather than supply all desired supplies | Halved ancillary energy needed, and landfill disposal for supplies |
| Emission reduction | Enclosure of production machines to reduce styrene evaporation; reformulate some paints to remove Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPS) | 80% reduction in styrene emissions; HAPS eliminated from one site |