Hazardous Waste Reduction
Specific Judging Considerations
- To recognize businesses that have eliminated or reduced the generation of hazardous wastes
- Overall impact to human health
- Relationship between the environmental benefits and the associated economic benefits
2008 Winner of Hazardous Waste Reduction
Winner – Johns Manville facility in Etowah (McMinn County)
Johns Manville’s fiber glass plant in Etowah employs 250 people and supplies fiber glass for a variety of products, including residential shingles. In 2007, the Etowah plant opened a new state-of-the-art, high-speed line to produce nonwoven glass mat. The company’s new glass furnaces have state-of-the-art abatement systems to remove particulates and sulfur dioxide (SO2) from the discharge stream. Recognizing the potential reuse and waste reduction from this effective capture of original materials, the Etowah plant launched a $225,000 engineering project to reuse this captured material as part of their glass making recipe. The effective reuse of the raw material, rich in expensive batch ingredients, reduced the amount of hazardous waste generated at the site and decreased the overall cost of manufacturing. In 2006, the Etowah plant generated 840,820 pounds of this material, which was shipped off-site and disposed as a hazardous waste. Reuse began in February 2007 and that year the Etowah plant shipped only 180,720 pounds of hazardous waste for disposal – a 79 percent reduction.
