Anoka Facility Nearly Landfill-Waste Free

November 2010

By the end of this year, Pentair Technical Products' Anoka facility will become the first Pentair site to eliminate 99 percent of waste destined for a landfill. It will be virtually landfill-waste free.

Anoka's effort to reduce, reuse and recycle material waste in its manufacturing processes is benefitting the environment and the company's bottom line.

Anoka's extensive waste-reduction efforts began in the late 1980s, when the facility began phasing out solvent-based paints in its production processes. These paints led to chemical waste and emissions related to the liquid coating process and solvent cleanup activities.

In 1988, Anoka began replacing its liquid coating operations with a powder coating system, completing the effort in November 2009., The conversion eliminated 99 percent of Anoka's solvent-based paints and virtually all of its harmful solvent emissions. Consider that in 1991, the Anoka plant released 320,000 pounds of solvents into the air. In 2010, it will generate less than 1,000 pounds.

Anoka's more recent efforts include incinerating all industrial waste. Almost everything that can't be incinerated is recycled, including 6,700 tons of scrap metal per year. Additionally, all scrap powder paint, approximately 280,000 pounds a year, is shipped to another manufacturer and reused to make light-weight concrete.

"There are cost reductions associated with all of this, but it's also just a better way to do business," said Joe Friederichs, environmental health and safety manager at Pentair Anoka. "Our goal is to not put any waste into landfills. As of January 1, 2011, that will be achieved."

Lessons learned from Anoka's implementation of its zero-waste efforts are being used at other Pentair facilities, as the company seeks to expand this initiative worldwide.