The DuPont Buffalo facility in Lockport, N.Y., was among 15 manufacturing and third-party partner sites worldwide that participated in Drive to Zero. Using free tracking tools provided by the EPA, the Lockport team determined that even after implementing many recycling procedures, it was still left with two waste streams: a small amount of unrecyclable garbage and unsellable fragments of DuPont™ Corian® solid surface material. For Drive to Zero, Exel and DuPont collaborated to eliminate this remaining waste, arriving at a solution to:
• Engage a company to grind grade B Corian® solid surface countertops into a saleable product used in road aggregate, thereby reusing finished goods waste;
• Compost food waste and utilize the compost to fertilize trees on the property; and
• Ship the last remaining waste to a nearby energy-from-waste facility, where it is incinerated and turned into energy to power the electrical grid.
Exel’s Lockport site reached zero landfill status in August 2011, well ahead of schedule. This was a result of the site’s prior efforts to recycle waste.