A long, long time ago in the history of waste management, well, there wasn't any. History that is. In fact, the beginning of organized waste management is considered such a breakthrough that the first sanitary landfill, established in 1937 in Fresno, California is now a designated national monument.
Even so, it wasn't until the 1970s that national regulations mandating the proper handling and disposal of waste, particularly hazardous waste, were publically implemented. Today, the conversation is rapidly moving from the question of, "how do we manage the landfill?" to "how do we eliminate the need for a landfill?"
Sustainability is the key word, and it's no longer just a concept for out-there tree huggers. Formalized sustainability reporting on an annual and even quarterly basis is becoming increasingly common among the large corporations that are known to set the pace in business practices. Companies large and small have established sustainability goals with metrics in place to gage success.
While responsible corporate citizenship has rewards of its own, successful sustainability efforts in businesses also often mean reduced costs and less management hassles. The upfront costs of changing a system to make it more sustainable, i.e. installing solar panels, are often recovered in a short time thanks to the savings gained from energy bills etc.
Of course, the key to true sustainability is to avoid the creation of waste altogether. Understanding a company's process and analyzing how product development can be modified to generate the least waste possible is a firs step. Working to recycle, recover and reuse waste products is the second step to sustainability.
Most of us understand recycling, at least in concept. But what about recovering and reusing waste? There are new techniques being created every day and Ingenium is one company very much on the forefront, researching and innovating new ways to use materials formerly considered only suitable for the landfill.
One example of Ingenium's contribution to increased sustainability is the unique Orphan Chemical Program. This program, targeted to the life sciences community among others, arranges for the transfer of title, and then shipment of useable chemicals that otherwise would be treated as waste to new owners. In one instance alone, we were able to connect a donor with a recipient on a project involving more than $1 million of chemicals, recapturing some of the investment for the donor, and saving more than $100,000 in disposal costs.
Another example inspired by the waste-to-energy movement is Ingenium's Emerald Energy program, wherein biological, hazardous and other waste types that were traditionally suitable only for landfill disposal or incineration are used to power state and local electrical grids. Currently, that program is only available in California, but we are working on implementing it in other areas as well.
At Ingenium, we work with our customers, examining their processes both up and downstream to first eliminate waste before it's created, and then to recycle, recover and reuse whatever else we can. We focus on cost, risk and liability reduction, and support it all with our, technical services, professional consulting, and permitting and industrial hygiene expertise combined with hands-on assistance.
If you have any questions or would like a complimentary Waste Management Analysis for your business, please contact Heather Dody at 760-745-8780.
Even so, it wasn't until the 1970s that national regulations mandating the proper handling and disposal of waste, particularly hazardous waste, were publically implemented. Today, the conversation is rapidly moving from the question of, "how do we manage the landfill?" to "how do we eliminate the need for a landfill?"
Sustainability is the key word, and it's no longer just a concept for out-there tree huggers. Formalized sustainability reporting on an annual and even quarterly basis is becoming increasingly common among the large corporations that are known to set the pace in business practices. Companies large and small have established sustainability goals with metrics in place to gage success.
While responsible corporate citizenship has rewards of its own, successful sustainability efforts in businesses also often mean reduced costs and less management hassles. The upfront costs of changing a system to make it more sustainable, i.e. installing solar panels, are often recovered in a short time thanks to the savings gained from energy bills etc.
Of course, the key to true sustainability is to avoid the creation of waste altogether. Understanding a company's process and analyzing how product development can be modified to generate the least waste possible is a firs step. Working to recycle, recover and reuse waste products is the second step to sustainability.
Most of us understand recycling, at least in concept. But what about recovering and reusing waste? There are new techniques being created every day and Ingenium is one company very much on the forefront, researching and innovating new ways to use materials formerly considered only suitable for the landfill.
One example of Ingenium's contribution to increased sustainability is the unique Orphan Chemical Program. This program, targeted to the life sciences community among others, arranges for the transfer of title, and then shipment of useable chemicals that otherwise would be treated as waste to new owners. In one instance alone, we were able to connect a donor with a recipient on a project involving more than $1 million of chemicals, recapturing some of the investment for the donor, and saving more than $100,000 in disposal costs.
Another example inspired by the waste-to-energy movement is Ingenium's Emerald Energy program, wherein biological, hazardous and other waste types that were traditionally suitable only for landfill disposal or incineration are used to power state and local electrical grids. Currently, that program is only available in California, but we are working on implementing it in other areas as well.
At Ingenium, we work with our customers, examining their processes both up and downstream to first eliminate waste before it's created, and then to recycle, recover and reuse whatever else we can. We focus on cost, risk and liability reduction, and support it all with our, technical services, professional consulting, and permitting and industrial hygiene expertise combined with hands-on assistance.
If you have any questions or would like a complimentary Waste Management Analysis for your business, please contact Heather Dody at 760-745-8780.