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Kimball named 'Pollution Prevention Champion'

by Brian Walker
| September 14, 2010 9:00 PM

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<p>Terry Wigen, powder coat operator for Kimball Office in Post Falls, sprays office cabinet parts during his shift on Monday. The manufacturer has eliminated the need for liquid paint, reducing the amount of hazardous waste by thousands of barrels over the past several years.</p>

POST FALLS - Kimball Office is a "Pollution Prevention Champion."

The Post Falls metal office furniture manufacturer was among five Idaho businesses - and the only one in North Idaho - to receive the honor from the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality in recognition of its efforts to protect the environment.

Kimball has prevented pollution by minimizing hazardous waste, reducing wastewater, improving energy efficiency and recycling.

"The company's values revolve around environmental and social responsibility, so they continually implement improvements to reduce their environmental impact," said Joanna Pierce DEQ's pollution prevention coordinator.

John Brennan, Kimball's safety, security and environmental health manager, said it's nice to be among only a few businesses in the state to earn the award.

"It feels good that our company has received this award that recognizes our employees for the implementation of all their pollution reduction efforts," Brennan said. "At Kimball International, we follow a continual journey toward reducing our footprint on the environment."

To qualify as a candidate for pollution prevention recognition, applicants had to demonstrate how they incorporated prevention techniques into daily operations by reducing raw materials or toxic materials purchased, hazardous or solid waste generated, water, energy or fuel used or air pollutants emitted.

"Pollution prevention provides both economic and environmental benefits by reducing both the volume and cost of hazardous waste, emissions, wastewater and other materials," Pierce said. "It can be as simple as adjusting equipment, employee practices, or the materials used."

Kimball Office was recognized for converting from a liquid paint to a powder coating process, resulting in reduced hazardous waste and wastewater; replacing facility compressors with high-efficiency units and configuring them to run on demand rather than constantly at full speed; and upgrading light fixtures to more efficient bulbs.

The award was presented to Kimball staff on Monday in conjunction with September being Pollution Prevention Month.

Kimball converted to a powder coating process in 2004. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, powder coatings are more beneficial to the environment than liquid coatings because they emit essentially zero volatile organic compounds, generate almost no hazardous waste, do not produce water pollution and are less toxic to operators because no solvents are used. The company is currently focusing on improvements to the powder composition itself to further improve transfer efficiency and reduce the amount of waste powder sent to landfills.

As a result of the conversion to powder, Kimball reduced the amount of hazardous waste generated from hundreds of tons per year to one 55-gallon drum every 18 months, saving the facility more than $300,000 per year in hazardous waste disposal costs. Additionally, the facility was reclassified by the state of Idaho from a large quantity waste generator to a conditionally exempt small quantity generator.

Kimball reduced the company's water consumption and the wastewater generated in the wash process by implementing better wash line practices. As a result, Kimball generated 2,496,000 fewer gallons of industrial wastewater in 2008 and an additional 316,265 fewer gallons in 2009.

To support further reductions to water consumption and discharge, a new chemical cleaning process is currently being evaluated.

The local municipal wastewater treatment facilities in Post Falls use biological systems, and as a result, cannot easily tolerate surfactants, which are chemicals used in cleaning. The new process being considered will significantly reduce cleaning chemical additives from the wastewater discharge.

The process does this by reducing the number of chemicals involved from three to one, and by using a "dry in place" cleaning chemical that does not require a final rinse after application. The process change is expected to reduce the amount of industrial wastewater produced by more than 50 percent.

Moving to the new chemical cleaning process will also reduce energy consumption since the new process will operate at a lower temperature and involve fewer wash stages.

Other energy improvement efforts include replacing facility compressors with high-efficiency units and using efficient light fixtures.

As a result of the light fixture changes, Kimball saved about $32,000 in electricity costs in 2008 and $54,000 in 2009. The goal this year is to reduce electricity usage by another 10 percent.

As of August, 92.3 percent of all waste materials generated at the facility have been recycled, with one month's recycling rate reaching as high as 94.3 percent.

Recycled materials include batteries, fluorescent lights, used oil, sawdust, wood offal, pallets, metal drums, spray cans, steel, aluminum cans, copper, cardboard, plastic containers, mixed paper and fabric.