To most businesses, recycling means sending waste
products like cardboard, paper or construction debris to a waste
recovery plant. However, some industrial waste products can be returned
directly to the manufacturer without ever leaving the site.
WM’s Upstream division recently helped Alcoa,
the world’s largest producer of primary and fabricated aluminum
products, to do just that at its Massena, New York, manufacturing
facilities. At one plant, 75 percent of the non-hazardous waste
stream consisted of alumina, a key component in the aluminum production
process.
As part of its “total waste management”
contract with Alcoa, Upstream helped devise a system to recover
and re-introduce more than 20 tons of alumina per week, saving the
company an estimated $600,000 annually in landfill and raw materials
costs.
