Page 142 - Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization a Systems Approach

120 THE GENERAL APPROACH FOR A SOLID WASTE ASSESSMENT

organization as a whole, or a sum of all business processes to achieve established goals.
The concept is to use data to develop comprehensive system-wide changes that will drive
environmental and economic performance versus routine incremental improvements. In
addition, several examples will be provided to further explore and explain each step of
the framework. The solid waste minimization process consists of 11 steps:

1 Establish the solid waste minimization team and charter
2 Review existing solid waste and recycling records
3 Create process flowcharts and conduct throughput analyses
4 Conduct the solid waste sorts at the facility
5 Analyze the data to determine annual generation by work unit or area and establish
baseline data
6 Identify major waste minimization opportunities
7 Determine, evaluate, and select waste minimization process, equipment, and
method-improvement alternatives
8 Develop the waste minimization deployment and execution plan
9 Execute and implement the waste minimization plan and timeline
10 Validate the program versus goals
11 Monitor and continually improve performance

Figure 8.1 separates this 11-step process as it relates to the Six Sigma approach.
By applying Six Sigma and the systems approach, waste minimization alternatives
can be developed and evaluated in a standardized manner to reduce the organization’s
environmental impact and improve financial performance. With this approach, alterna-
tives are fully described, environmental impacts are quantified, a feasibility analysis is
conducted, a financial justification analysis is performed, and feedback is collected
from all stakeholders before making a final decision to implement. To aid in describing
the 11-step process, a case study is utilized as an example to discuss the real-world
application of each step. The case study involves a company in Northwest Ohio that is
a leading manufacturer of original equipment batteries, specializing in parts for
Chrysler, Ford, Jeep, Nissan, and Mazda. Approximately 18,000 to 20,000 batteries are
produced per day in a plant that was opened in 1980. The basic components in battery
construction are the case, positive plates, negative plates, separators, plate straps, elec-
trolyte, and terminals. At the company, the separator is made of microporous rubber
while the case is made of polypropylene. Other components are lead oxide and acid
electrolyte. Waste is generated from each of these components and these waste streams
along with the process flow diagrams are discussed in this chapter.

8.2 Step 1: Establish the Team

and Define the Project

After identifying the need to minimize solid waste and gaining top management sup-
port, the first step involves establishing the team and defining goals. The key outcomes
and deliverables of this step are