Scott Plummer, ADAC’s Environmental Health and Safety Manager has a tough job. As one of the nation’s leading suppliers of injection-molded plastic components for the worldwide automotive industry, ADAC takes pride in its outstanding Environmental Management System in conformance with the ISO14001 EMS Standard. Scott’s job is to make sure the program continually improves.

Each year, ADAC sends nearly 500 drums of solid hazardous waste, which contain personal protection equipment and other similar manufacturing debris, out for disposal. “We used to send this waste to incinerators but now, thanks to a process called SDS, it can be beneficially recycled.” SDS or Solid Distillation System is an exclusive solid hazardous waste recycling technology developed by Pollution Control Industries of Northwest Indiana. Here’s how the process works. PCI receives ADAC drums, via Univar Chemical and sends them through a powerful shredder. After shredding, the waste enters a large, indirectly heated rotating cylindrical kiln where high internal temperatures bake out the volatile organics. No harmful emissions are produced because the waste never contacts the heat source … that is what makes SDS different. The organics are reclaimed and distilled and can be reused in a variety of industrial applications. The inorganics can be used as a raw material. Nothing is wasted in the process.

In the end, ADAC receives a Certificate of Recycling instead of a Certificate of Destruction. According Plummer, “SDS recycling helps us do something good for the environment and meet an ISO 14001 EMS Continual Improvement requirement at the same time.”

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Phone: (800) 388-7242
Fax: (219) 397-6411
E-mail: kcarle@pollutioncontrol.com
Web: www.pollutioncontrol.com