Zero Landfill Organization

 

UPDATE:

One year ago, PGC took the next step in our Planet initiative and began our Waste Stream Management project. With the commitment of our staff and to our process changes, we have results we are excited to share.

At the start of this program, PGC was generating about 16 tons of compacted waste per month. This would be 192 tons of waste material going to an industrial waste landfill every year. Now, because of the new processes PGC has committed to, we are generating around 9.5 tons of waste per month. Not only has the amount of waste output significantly decreased, but now it goes directly to an incinerator that is used to create electricity.

With the efforts highlighted in the original article below, PGC has diverted about 76 tons of waste while achieving a 40% cost reduction.

We look forward to continuing this commitment and focusing on our impact!

 

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PGC is always looking for ways to improve our performance for People, Planet and Profit.  Recently, we achieved a goal of becoming a, “Zero Landfill Organization”. This means that we have moved away from having our facility use landfills for trash, and instead we direct our trash into new improved channels.  We have found that our trash is a desirable resource to other organizations, allowing us to improve the environment and save money.  We have increased our recycling and directed some of our waste to be sold for a profit.    Some of our waste is being incinerated to make clean energy (heat and electricity) for the community we live in. We reduced cost of recycling cardboard by switching from baling our cardboard boxes to simply placing it in a bin to have it hauled away.

PGC’s latest addition to the facility is an improved trash compactor that helps us do better for the planet. The new system was installed by DMH Co. Sept. 1st and is a screw-style compactor that provides an estimated 50% more compaction when compared to the old system.  Environmentally speaking, this increased compaction results in fewer truck trips to remove trash and will save on fuel costs, in turn reducing pollution.

PGC’s current efforts to reduce that amount of scrap we put in the compactor are already paying off.  Separating seven tons of blue paper and chipboard to be recycled every 1 ½ months, and two tons of cardboard every month.  Our recycled chipboard and blue paper get sold to make cereal boxes, and other similar cardboard products.