SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste
and Emergency Response
(5306W)
EPA 530-F-97-009
August 1997
Waste Minimization:
Increased Profits and
Productivity
HADCO Corporation
SUM Investment;
Payback in 3 Years
Eliminated Continuous
Monitoring
_ Eliminated Disposal of
800,000 Pounds of
Solvents
If you don't factor in the cost
of those releases going up
your stack or out your dis-
charge or out in bulk ship-
ments for off site treatment
and disposal, then you don't
really have a good apprecia-
tion for the actual costs of
pollution
What is the HADCO
Corporation?
HADCO Corporation is one of
the nation's largest manufacturers of
printed wiring boards, the funda-
mental building blocks of all elec-
tronic components. Common uses
include computers, telecommunica-
tions, medical devices, and automo-
tive components. The complex,
multi-step manufacturing process
requires many hazardous solvents,
including 1,1,1-trichloroethane
(TCA) and methylene chloride.
What Did They Accomplish?
Through their continued efforts
in waste minimization, HADCO has
succeeded in reducing both releases
and transfers of toxic chemicals tar-
geted in EPA's 33/50 program by
99.5%. As a result, the facility saves
$600,000 per year in avoided chlori-
nated solvent purchases and associ-
ated disposal costs.
Environmental
Achievements
HADCO's achievements at the
Derry, New Hampshire facility
occurred in two stages. First, they
implemented a solvent recovery sys-
tem on two of the five production
lines that used methylene chloride.
At the same time, they eliminated
chlorinated solvents from the other
three production lines. In the second
stage, HADCO eliminated TCA and
methylene chloride completely from
all five production lines by switch-
ing to aqueous solvents such as
monoethylamine.
Elimination of chlorinated sol-
vents has impacted more than just
air and water emissions: annual dis-
posal of 800,000 pounds of spent
methylene chloride has also been
eliminated. Prior to implementing
the program, HADCO was the
largest environmental polluter in
New Hampshire. These achieve-
ments have greatly improved public
relations, and moved HADCO
down the list of New Hampshire's
pollution generators.
Regulatory Relief
To meet regulatory requirements
for the solvent recovery system,
HADCO was required to install a
continuous emissions monitoring
system (CEMS) and to produce
monthly reports. The CEMS gener-
ated high maintenance and opera-
tional costs. Once the solvent recov-
ery system was discontinued, the
costly CEMS was no longer
required.
Eliminating chlorinated solvents
reduced regulatory burdens associ-
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Waste Minimization: Increased Profits and Productivity
HADCO Corporation
ated with several environmental
statutes:
• Clean Air Act — eliminated
solvents were targeted for
phase out;
• Emergency Planning and
Community Right-to-Know
Act — eliminated solvents
were reportable under Section
313;
• Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act — eliminated
solvents were regulated as haz-
ardous.
The Implementation Process
Impetus for the initial solvent
recovery system and later for the
elimination of TCA and methylene
chloride primarily came through
HADCO's senior management.
They thought HADCO should be
"...number one in making circuit
boards, not number one in Toxic
Release Inventory releases." Both
approaches were developed in
house, involving site engineers and
the corporate vice president of engi-
neering. Implementation of the ini-
tial solvent recovery system required
about a year from inception to exe-
cution, though Mr. Wilmot, Manager
of Corporate Safety, Health, and
Environmental Affairs, noted that
obtaining air and water permits cre-
ated the biggest delays. Once the
recovery system was implemented,
workers needed to be trained in
operating the CEMS. Afterward,
HADCO phased out chlorinated
chemicals from all production lines.
HADCO monitored effectiveness
of the systems in two ways:
duction and costs of chemical
purchasing; and
• Chemical monitoring of both
raw material inputs and efflu-
ent.
Economics: Costs and
Paybacks
Funding for these improvements
came from internal sources. While
Mr. Wilmot noted that there is typi-
cally internal competition for capital
improvement projects, funding for
these improvements was non-discre-
tionary.
HADCO invested $1.7 million in
the project, which covered the cost
of installing the initial solvent recov-
ery system on two production lines
and the cost of converting all five
chlorinated solvent-using lines to
aqueous solvents. This included
equipment purchase, installation
and labor.
Payback for these activities came
within three years, and resulted pri-
marily from HADCO no longer
spending $600,000 per year on chlo-
rinated solvents. There were no
reductions in disposal costs - in fact,
before implementing these changes,
spent methylene chloride was
shipped off site at no charge for
recovery. The current aqueous sol-
vents annually generate 200,000
pounds of sludge that HADCO must
pay to have disposed as hazardous
waste.
Hurdles
Implementation of these changes
presented no major hurdles. The
most difficult problem with the sol-
vent recovery system was getting
across the fact that when the CEMS
malfunctioned, production had to be
stopped. This required a significant
behavioral change in a plant that
operates continuously. This behav-
ioral change was only temporary,
since elimination of the chlorinated
solvents also eliminated the need for
the CEMS. There were no negative
impacts to the quantity and quality
of goods produced.
Words to the Wise
Lee Wilmot cautions those con-
sidering implementation of waste
minimization projects to look closely
at their cost accounting systems.
"Total cost accounting is what is sell-
ing pollution prevention and waste
minimization. But if you don't fac-
tor in the cost of those releases going
up your stack or out your discharge
or out in bulk shipments for off site
treatment and disposal, then you
don't really have a good apprecia-
tion [for the actual costs of pollu-
tion]. If all you're focusing on is
how much it costs to operate your
solvent recovery system or waste-
water treatment system, or trans-
porting that waste to the end site,
you've missed a big, big part of your
cost of operations."
WASTE
MINIMIZATION
NATIONAL PLAN
• Cost accounting, which exam-
ined operational costs of pro-
For more information about the Waste Minimization National Plan, call (800) 424-9346
or check the World Wide Web at http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/minimize
Reducing Toaesm Our Raton's Waste
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