Waste Reduction Application: 

Background:

The Trinity Industries facility in Asheville, North Carolina, is a metal fabrication plant which produces various steel and aluminum railroad boxcar assemblies for the railroad industry.  The fabrication process includes: metal prep cleaning, cutting large pieces of steel and aluminum, sanding, welding, acid bath treatment, and primer coat painting.  The finished parts, including: gates for gondolas, wear plates, and box car roof parts, are forwarded to assembly plants in Alabama and Texas.

Waste Reduction Activities:

• Eliminated the use of “scouring grit” used to remove the rust that had formed on “wear plates,” which had been stored outside, by storing the wear plates inside the plant or under cover.

• Installed low-flow toilets, sink aerators, and low-flow shower heads to reduce water usage.

• Installed an in-tank filtration system to reduce caustic wastewater.

• Changed ordering procedure to order only “specific size” pallets to reduce total pallet usage by 70%.

• Recycled 50 tons of cardboard annually

• Replaced paint spray guns with HVLP-type guns to reduce paint waste.

• Eliminated the use of waste cleaning solvent.
   

Waste Reduction Annual Savings ($20,335)

• “Scouring Grit” Elimination, (75 tons), $3,000 landfill tipping fees savings.

• Water Usage Reduction,  (220,000 gpy),  $1,335

• Caustic Wastewater Reduction, (6,000 gpy), $1,200.00, wastewater costs savings.

• Paint Waste Reduction, (13,200 gpy), $14,800, hazardous waste cost savings.

• 50 tons of cardboard and 75 tons of “scouring grit” diverted from landfills annually.