Product Design
- Design products to minimise waste and assembly costs.
- Maximise the potential for re-use or recycling of waste material by not using adhesives or other contaminants.
Raw materials Selection
- Discuss with your suppliers how to choose materials to minimise waste or facilitate the re-use or recycling of waste.
- Are materials used over-specified, eg could a lighter grade of material or packaging be used?
- Use recycled materials if practicable and if the cost compares favourably with virgin material.
- Are any potentially hazardous materials used? Could these be substituted to cut costs of handling/storage/disposal?
Packaging
- Can packaging be reduced or eliminated? Could the packaging received from suppliers be re-used?
- Could you use waste from other parts of the business, eg office waste, paper shredding, for infill to packaging?
- Draw a diagram of the packaging cycle and identify areas for re-usable packaging.
- Discuss returnability of incoming packaging with your suppliers.
Process design and operation
- Part cleaning
- Enclose all solvent cleaning units.
- Use refrigerated freeboard on vapour degreasing units.
- Improve parts draining before and after cleaning.
- Use mechanical cleaning devices.
- Use plastic bead blasting.
- Surface finishing
- Prolong process life by removing contaminants.
- Redesign parts racks to reduce drag-out.
- Re-use rinsewater
- Install spray or fog nozzle rinse systems.
- Design and operate all rinse tanks correctly.
- Install drag-out recovery tanks.
- Install rinsewater flow control valves.
- Install drip racks and drain boards.
- Surface coating
- Use high volume low pressure spray guns.
- Use electrostatic spray coating systems.
- Control coating viscosity with heat units.
- Use powder coatings.
- Use high solids coatings.
- Equipment cleaning
- Use high pressure rinse systems.
- Use mechanical wipers.
- Use a countercurrent rinse sequence.
- Re-use spent rinse water.
- Use 'pigs' to clean lines.
- Use compressed gas to blow out lines.
- Spills/leaks
- Use bellows-sealed valves.
- Install spill basins or bunds.
- Use seal-less pumps.
- Maximise use of welded pipe joints.
- Install splash guards and drip boards.
- Install overflow control devices.
- Maintenance
- Purify and re-use coolant on machine tools.
- Rationalise uses of lubricating oils to extend oil change times and cut quantities stored.
Water use and discharge
- Evaluate water charges, sewerage and effluent disposal costs to determine weekly/daily figures.
- Locate and cure any leaks.
- Use manual spray guns to control wash-down use.
- Examine potential for re-use of water, e.g. wash-downs.
- Can effluent be economically treated on-site to reduce disposal charges? Is there scope for sharing treatment facilities with adjacent businesses?
- Fit an occupancy control if you have urinals flushing round the clock.
Energy management
- Measure energy used in the manufacturing process.
- What does your energy cost? Check that tariffs are appropriate.
- How much energy are you consuming? How does it vary?
- Measure your performance on a routine basis.
- Survey the heating system to check the efficiency of:
- boiler;
- pipe insulation;
- control system for time/temperatures.
- Are heating methods effective and appropriate?
- Check lighting systems for:
- cleanliness (lamps/fittings/roof lights);
- lights not left on unnecessarily;
- age and condition of lamps;
- controls (local switches/detectors).
- Check insulation (walls, roof, windows, doors).
- Assess energy use in processes together with overall process and waste arisings.
Waste management
- Segregate wastes to facilitate recycling or to enable sale of materials that could become another company's raw material.
- Segregate and re-use or recycle waste solvents.
- Use filter presses to dewater sludge where metals can be recovered.
Transport and distribution
- Control company cars to obtain most economical running costs.
- Share vehicles.
- Limit engine size of company vehicles.
- Maintain vehicles properly.
- Control your own commercial vehicles.
- Fit spoilers.
- Train drivers in economical driving methods.
- Optimise vehicle routing.
Support activities
- Optimise procedures to save paper.
- Segregate waste paper.
- Re-use or recycle waste paper.
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