The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is looking for small businesses interested in reducing emissions of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) throughout their facilities. VOCs can be reduced by making changes to manufacturing processes and heating equipment, and through facility-wide opportunities such as reducing vehicle miles traveled, purchasing low VOC supplies, and improving energy efficiency.

This is an exciting opportunity to reduce VOCs facility-wide. If you have been thinking about reducing your VOC emissions, you can receive notifications on upcoming assistance opportunities by signing up for emails here.

Clear Lake Press, a national printer in Waseca, has all but eliminated hazardous chemicals and replaced them with solutions that are safer for employees and the environment.

The quest to go green is not new to Clear Lake Press. “Environmental initiatives have always been in place here,” said Chris Waldron, VP and general manager for Clear Lake Press. The company has been a member of the Printing Industry of Minnesota’s (PIM) Great Green Printers since 1997.  “Being a green printer is much more than just using recycled paper and being FSC certified,” said Gene Ross, pressroom supervisor at Clear Lake Press. “In order to make a large-scale commercial printer run, chemicals are required to clean and wash the blankets and rollers. Most people don’t realize those chemicals can be hazardous.”

Changing for the better

Clear Lake Press has concentrated on reducing hazardous waste. They went to a UV-reactive soy-based ink that needs UV light to dry, which means the press always has wet ink to clean off before printing a new run. Before the changes, the company used a cleaner that would simply dissolve the ink on the rollers. With the soy-based ink, the pressmen use a water-based cleaner instead. It takes a little more muscle to get the machines clean, but the employees think it’s worth it. They now use a vegetable-based cleaning solution to clean presses, and have replaced solvent-based fluids with water-based fluids in all parts washers.

The press has also reduced paper consumption by 40 rolls every month by using more efficient printing methods and increasing employee awareness. For example, if an employee runs the machine more slowly during the test print, less waste paper is produced. “Self-awareness and training are really 90% of it,” Waldron said. “The press was really made faster by turning the speed down, and it wasted less.” The employees are also reminded visually. Instead of putting all the wasted paper in bins where the employees couldn’t see the result, it is stacked on pallets that are set in the work area. Strong said. “The workers actually got to see the waste pile up.”

They have also worked with some of their shippers to reuse pallets that would normally be thrown away. Instead of dooming the wooden pallets to the mulch machine, the contractor replaces a few boards so the pallet is usable again. Used ink is fuel-blended, and the ash by-product is used in concrete. Garbage is contracted out to a company in Mankato that burns the garbage for energy. Overall, only about 40 to 60 pounds of ash goes into a landfill.

“Less than 1% of all our waste enters a landfill,” Waldron said. “We track it, so we know exactly how much we waste.” These kinds of results are then reported back to the employees. The employees are told about waste produced and the resultant savings. That is important to Waldron since he says without employee buy-in, the changes wouldn’t work. Each of the 34 employees has had the training to sort materials, run the machines more efficiently, and clean up using the new materials. The waste-reduction initiatives worked because the company committed to changing its workplace culture.

The bottom line

Since making the transition to green printing, Clear Lake Press has:

• reduced VOCs by 92%
• eliminated hazardous waste
• eliminated 1,560 pounds of hazardous parts cleaner fluid
• Reduced paper waste from 13.6% to 5.1%

With the new improvements, Clear Lake Press is also saving money. The company has fewer paper purchases and hazardous waste licenses fees (moved from SQG in 2008 to MQG status now).The savings, Waldron said, are then passed on to the customer. By their dedication to going green, Waldron also thinks the customers see they care. That won’t attract every customer, but for some, it is a good selling point.

“The decision to go green was easy,” said Waldron. “We saw an opportunity to provide a safer work place for our employees and be more environmentally responsible, not to mention that more and more of our customers want to do business with environmentally conscious vendors.

Intern Program Looking for Projects - Apply Now!

The Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) is currently seeking project proposals from Minnesota businesses for its 2014 summer intern program. Businesses interested in reducing waste, conserving water, and improving energy efficiency are encouraged to apply for an intern in 2014. Proposed projects are evaluated for impact potential, project scope, and company interest and commitment. Projects should focus on identifying specific operations and options for reducing waste and increasing energy efficiency.

Project proposals are due on February 1, 2014.

Apply online today! If you work with Minnesota companies, please spread the word to those companies you think might be a good fit for such opportunities.

Solid Waste Trainings and On-Site Assessments

The Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) at the University of Minnesota is providing solid waste trainings and on-site assessments free to attendees in 53 Minnesota counties through partnerships with counties, cities, tribal entities, Chambers, Rotaries, and other civic organizations. This effort is supported by a grant from United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

Trainings are flexible and customizable. They may be provided as a stand-alone event, as part of an existing event, or before or after a site assessment. Assessments involve a facility walk-through to look at areas where waste is generated and current waste management practices. The assessment includes a report with tailored recommendations on how an organization can improve waste reduction and diversion.

MnTAP’s objective is to conduct trainings and assessments in ten communities with populations under 10,000. To date, MnTAP has conducted five events through partnerships with Becker, Cass, Otter Tail, and St. Louis Counties and the Perham and Pelican Rapids Rotaries.

Call or email Anna Arkin, MnTAP Solid Waste Specialist, at 612-624-0808 or aiarkin@umn.edu for additional details and to reserve trainings and assessments tailored to fit your government, community, or association needs and interests.

It pays for Minnesota manufacturers to buy materials, components and products from each other instead of from out-of-state or foreign suppliers.

Now a new directory of products and supplies manufactured in the state makes it easy for Minnesota companies to find -- and be found by -- home-state suppliers that are a perfect fit.

The Made in Minnesota directory is a free online database you can use to find nearly 800 Minnesota manufacturers who make everything from food products to textiles, fabricated metals, machinery, and computers and electronics. Search by product, company name, county and NAICS codes.

There’s more: The Made in Minnesota Directory contains the names and addresses of participating companies, year the businesses were established, corporate contact information, number of employees, products they make and products they are interested in buying from Minnesota suppliers.

The directory also contains information on renewable energy products and suppliers to key Minnesota industries like medical devices.

If you’d like to list your company information in the database, just go to the Made in Minnesota website at www.tinyurl.com/MadeinMinnesotaDirectory and provide your businesses information – and you’re done. It’s that easy.

Like the logo? We encourage businesses to use the Made in Minnesota logo on websites and products. Contact laura.winge@state.mn.us at the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.