The goal of sustainable manufacturing is producing products in ways that have a minimal negative influence on the environment. In order to accomplish this, manufacturers use processes that reduce and prevent greenhouse gases, conserve natural resources and energy and do not harm workers or consumers.
Below are some important ways manufacturers can apply best practices for sustainable manufacturing. Application of these ideas across all types of manufacturing facilities are not only are environmentally sound, but also result in lower manufacturing costs and improved products that are safer to make and use.
Reducing and reusing resources
Waste audits are the starting point for figuring out where the best opportunities are for reducing and reusing raw materials, including energy in the manufacturing sector.
A waste audit takes into account the quantity of waste your plant gets rid of, how you dispose of waste and the cost of disposal. The end product of the waste audit reveals which waste is being reused or recycled properly and lets you know what reusable or recyclable material are being discarded in the waste stream.
No matter what type of manufacturing your facility does, reducing and reusing source materials for the products you make has many benefits. These include:
- Energy savings
- Money savings
- Stemming pollution from the need to harvest or gather new raw materials
- Helping fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Reducing waste that goes to landfills or need recycling
There are many ways to reduce and reuse raw materials, examples include:
Redesign packaging: Packaging is a major source of fill going to landfills or recycling plants.
One example is the recent trend in breakfast cereal packaging to sell it in bags, such as those used for potato chips. It uses nearly the same amount of plastic packaging and eliminates the need for a cardboard box that surrounded the plastic inner liner. On the shelf, packaging designs can be uniform with how the cardboard appeared to maintain brand identity.
Recycling water: This is great for the environment and for your facility's bottom line. There are many ways to recycle water in manufacturing plants including water cascading programs and condensate recovery (where condensate is reused in other manufacturing or for feeding boilers).
While reducing overall water use, condensate use also helps reduce energy costs as it nears the temperature needed in these other operations. Repair leaks in production, toilets, kitchens and landscaping watering systems.
Energy savings in manufacturing facilities
Say your manufacturing facility is 30 years old. You have a crack maintenance crew that maintains and repairs equipment well, and it seems to keep running. Additionally, there is 30 years of equipment acquisitions in place and while you would like to reduce energy costs, you are not going to replace older, less efficient manufacturing equipment.
You can make your equipment more efficient by modification rather than replacement, with a payback period of 36 months or less.
How? Several companies provide retrofits for making machines run more efficiently using capacitor technology. Equipment can be added to AC motors to turn them into more efficient DC motors. Sensors for lights can turn lights off either by time, light level or occupancy. In manufacturing, lighting is a major source of electric expense and has the shortest payback time.
Back offices are usually air conditioned spaces in factory buildings. These units can be modified to run more efficiently by adding some controls and using an additive in the refrigerant.
These are just a few ideas for implementing sustainable manufacturing at your facility. If you have other ideas, feel free to share them in the comments below.
