Fact Sheet: Source Reduction and Recycling Lead to Pollution Prevention Efforts

Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA)

The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 greatly expanded the reporting requirements to include examples of source reduction and an accounting of TRI chemicals that are generated as byproducts and are recycled, recovered for energy or treated. This is a much larger universe than the original TRI, and more difficult to measure. In addition, companies must project pollution prevention activities as well as report performance.

According to the Chemical Manufacturers Association, its member companies reported that 93 percent of the byproducts were recycled, recovered for energy or treated in 1992. This number is projected to increase to 95 percent in 1994, further reducing releases to the environment. CMA companies represent 90 percent of US productive capacity for basic chemicals.

Pollution prevention is an idea whose time has come. For the chemical industry, the idea goes back 100 years when it was called yield improvement -- making more product with the same amount of raw material In 1988 the Chemical Manufacturers Association adopted Responsible Care, an industrywide initiative to improve health, safety and environmental performance, with pollution prevention as one of its six Codes of Management Practice. The codes are requirements for CMA membership.

Graph: Pollution Prevention Activities (million lbs.) [provided in source document]

Chemical industry practice, the Responsible Care code and the Pollution Prevention Act involve a hierarchy of pollution prevention activities, including:

• source reduction,
  
• recycling,
  
• recovery for energy, and
  
• treatment.

Similarly, W.R. Grace reduced wash cycles by two-thirds in a process to make an epoxy catalyst at Canton, MA. The company also changed the soap composition, rendering the wastewater non-corrosive, and in the future plans to filter and recycle the wastewater. At a plant in Illinois, Grace developed a drum wash wand that washes the residue from raw material drums directly into the process, where it is converted into product.

Monsanto and DuPont switched from solvents to high-pressure water washing to clean vessels of polymer build-up. Monsanto's Indian Orchard plant in Massachusetts eliminated 180,000 pounds of TRI waste discharged every year to the publicly owned treatment works. DuPont's Chambers Works in New Jersey reduced cleaning waste by 98 percent. The company turned to experts in waterjet engineering, used in the mining industry, to design a special water lance and nozzle. Both companies cut turnaround time and saved money.

Chevron introduced a comprehensive source reduction program at its Richmond, CA, plant to cut air emissions by 90 percent. Over several years, the company improved process equipment, increased preventive maintenance and added monitoring devices to detect problems. As a result, the plant received regulatory permits to increase production.

Monsanto completely redesigned a process to reduce waste and cut costs in making a chemical that strengthens rubber. The original process involved three intermediate, steps, each of which generated waste. The new process eliminated these steps and went directly from raw material to final product. It uses 50 percent less raw material and reduces waste by 98 percent.

Recycling accounts for the largest volume of chemicals reported under the Pollution Prevention Act. For example, Dakota Gasification Company operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant to convert coal into synthetic natural gas and other coproducts. The process produces a sludge which initially was disposed of in landfills on and off the site. Because the Dakota gasification process can use numerous types of organic materials as feedstock, the company experimented with recycling the sludge. The process has been improved and now recycles sludges from other facilities.

Morton International recycled a waste stream not into a process but into a product The company's West Alexandria, OH, plant's polyester resin process generated a flammable waste stream that was incinerated. Morton worked with a supplier to develop a process for converting the stream to a resin that could be used as a plasticizer for black electrical tape.

Huntsman Corporation's Austin Research Laboratories in Austin, TX, combined recycling and treatment. The company installed a Super Critical Water Oxidation Unit to treat bulk waste streams. The unit converts process wash water and process solvent wash streams to carbon dioxide and water, which can be used in the boiler and cooling tower.

Finally, Rhone-Poulenc is in the business of recycling sulfuric acid, but the regeneration plant itself produced acid wastewater. The regeneration process at Dominguez, CA, involves burning the waste acid with sulfur in an industrial furnace to produce sulfur dioxide (SO2). Rhone-Poulenc discovered that the introduction of too much oxygen too early in the process produced sulfur trioxide (SO3), which resulted in operating procedures and reduced the waste by 75 percent.

Pollution Prevention Activities (millions/lbs.)

Activity	1991	1992	1993 Proj.	1994 Proj.
Recycled	7,021	7,820	6,876	6,885
On Site	6,693	6,467	6,525	6,537
On Site	328	353	351	348
Energy Recovery	974	1,012	992	990
On Site	792	813	814	822
On Site	182	199	178	168
Treated	3,969	3,932	3,871	3,692
On Site	3,760	3,707	3,677	3,507
On Site	209	225	194	185
Released	859	826	696	589

Beginning in 1991, EPA asked companies to report on the TRI chemicals that were recycled and treated. The reports include two years of actual performance and two years of projections. The above data was reported in 1992 by CMA member companies for 320 core chemicals.