THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610040234
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY MEREDITH COHN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 151 lines
POLYSTYRENE, MOST OFTEN associated with disposable coffee cups, Big Mac containers and landfills, has new buzz words attached to it at Huntsman Chemical Corp.
They are: recycle and reuse.
Workers at the chemical giant, which produces one million pounds of polystyrene a day at the plant off Bainbridge Boulevard, say their recycling and environmental programs developed during the last five years are helping to change public perceptions, and their own.
``The old picture is of rusted drums hidden in back places,'' said Van H. White, manager of environmental affairs for the company. ``The public concept of a chemical company is from 50 years ago when it was like that. It's not like that any more, especially not here.''
Huntsman, with volunteer workers' efforts and the company's blessing, has started recycling just about everything under the roof, including aluminum cans and polystyrene cups from the cafeteria and waste oil from employee cars. Old furniture and computers are donated or auctioned off. Some equipment goes to local schools. And last year, money generated was used to help a needy family at Christmastime.
Most of the recycled and reused material comes from polystyrene production. About 5.6 million pounds last year of waste material was ground and reused, made into a lower grade product or sold as raw material to other companies at a below market price. Even spilled polystyrene is swept up and sold.
White said the company does not track how much money is spent on the recycling programs or how much is generated from selling waste material, but he figures the company is close to breaking even. Money comes on an as-needed basis from the company's general funds. And dollars generated from selling cardboard, for example, can be used to offset the cost of unloading other materials such as polystyrene food containers.
``The program is not a money-making one; it's an environmental one,'' said Barb Lambe, a company logistics specialist who serves as the Waste Minimization Team's volunteer leader.
Lambe said it would take a full-time person to determine the money spent and generated on the programs because of the number of items. Market prices and the amount of each kind of waste Huntsman generates fluctuate widely during the year.
Further complicating their tally are changes in operations. Huntsman has has retooled and sold material previously thought to be unusable, and company officials have encouraged vendors to take back and reuse packaging or reduce packaging. For example, the toner cartridges on laser printers are refilled now instead of replaced. Also, a piece of lab equipment that would have cost $5,000 to discard safely because of radiation was donated to a local lab.
``It helps them and us,'' said Lambe. ``Sometimes we make money; we just don't know how much total.''
Some items routinely generate revenue. Aluminum last year, on average, fetched 20 to 30 cents a pound, and paper brought in $40 a ton. Income is also provided by a local businessman who takes Huntsman's scrap metal away and returns a portion of the profit when it's sold.
Local companies are used whenever possible. Butler Paper of Suffolk hauls away the office paper and cardboard, and Chesapeake-based Tidewater Fibre takes away aluminum cans and polystyrene. Chesapeake's Safety Kleen takes oil absorbents and oil filters, while neighboring Eastern Oil picks up oil for free and recycles it.
Lab glass, however, has become a nemesis. A company that used to accept the lab waste declined to continue last year, and Huntsman has not found a replacement.
Motivating 250 plant workers to participate all the time can be a challenge. The company's management uses education, rather than pressure, to boost participation - e-mail and notices passed along with check stubs helps get the message out.
Special bins were constructed in six places around the sprawling complex to collect aluminum and polystyrene. The old bins looked like trash cans and the employees treated them as such, Lambe said. Bins for office, mixed and computer paper can be found near just about every desk.
``It's hard to tell how many employees make the extra effort to walk downstairs to recycle a soda can, but probably about half of them do,'' Lambe said. ``With paper, because the bins are right there, we're probably at 95 percent. There's hardly any of it in the trash.''
In the cafeteria, Lambe said, she has to convince workers to clean off the polystyrene trays so they can be recycled rather than sent to the landfill.
To make the material cheap enough to haul away every two or three months, polystyrene must be compressed into a bale. In its standard form just a few hundred pounds would fill a truck, but probably 10 times that much fits when it's compressed.
To handle the special needs, bins and equipment have been added at the plant, which has been at the Bainbridge Boulevard location since 1973.
The plant has been in Huntsman's control since 1986. And with 83 plants around the world and $43 billion in sales a year, it's the largest privately held chemical company in the world.
Huntsman, however, does not make any of the products familiar to consumers. The material is shipped to other manufacturers who make things such as compact disc cases, food trays and medical supplies such as clear tubes and bottles. Among its more than 200 customers are RCA and Sony.
Huntsman produces pellets the size of rabbit food - about 40 billion of them a day - which the company sells in different colors by the bag, box or rail car. (It costs $100,000 to buy a rail car, which holds 180,000 pounds of pellets.)
Along the way, the company has enacted environmentally conscious changes to operations. Some were nudged along by state and federal emissions laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
To comply with permits that require that only storm water runs into the Elizabeth River, which flows at the edge of Huntsman's property, a pond was constructed nearby to catch sediment.
Another volunteer program calls for daily testing of pipes for leaks. It's reduced the amount of pollutants released into the air from 44,000 pounds a year to 1,000 pounds a year - saving about $20,000, minus repair costs.
Workers also found a customer for waste created during polystyrene production - a method that combines the clear liquid chemical styrene with mineral oil and synthetic rubber. The waste, considered hazardous by federal standards, used to go to a cement kiln for burning, but another company now uses it to make plastic.
``Several years ago we were considered a large quantity producer of hazardous waste,'' White said. ``Now we're a small producer. We went from generating two million pounds a year to 6,000 pounds and it happened in one fell swoop. It saves a lot of money and turns our waste into someone else's raw material.''
Organizers say the programs are sometimes a burden on them.
``It is,'' said White, the environmental affairs manager. ``It takes work outside of your work. But it's the right thing to do, and most people want to do the right thing.''
Local government and environmental groups say they are pleased with Huntsman's efforts and report no violations of the law or public trust.
Harold Winer of the state Department of Environmental Quality said recent files - which go back six years - show no violations of air, water or waste laws.
The Elizabeth River Project, a coalition of businesses, government offices and residents aiming to clean up the waterway, reports Huntsman is a member in good standing.
``They seem to be interested in being part of the solution, rather than being part of the problem,'' said Marjorie Mayfield, the executive director.
Gail Bradshaw of the city's Environmental Improvement Council, said Huntsman is active in city events such as Earth Day and Clean the Bay Day.
``They're a role model for other local companies,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by STEVE EARLEY
Thomas Astrop of Huntsman Chemical Corp. holds a scrap piece of
polystyrene, which the company produces and reuses.
The recycling committee at Huntsman Chemical Corp. unites employees
from throughout the plant. Chemist Andy Strenk, left, and Thomas
Astrop, a maintenance oiler, take part in a recent meeting.
Last year, aluminum cans, on average, fetched 20 to 30 cents a
pound.
Oil filters from employees' vehicles are picked up by a local
company for free and recycled.
Looking over the recycling bins for paper for Huntsman Chemical
Corp. employees, from left: Barb Lambe, Van White and Thomas Astrop.
The paper brings in $40 a ton. by CNB