Vecta

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Furniture Manufacturing

Industry: Furniture Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Solid Waste

Location: Grand Prairie TX

No. of employees: 280

Contact: Deidre Boggs

Phone: (214) 641-2860

Description:

VECTA has an active facility wide recycling program that not only recycles office paper, computer paper, cardboard and aluminum cans but also scrap metal, fabric, foam and leather from its production area.

P2 Application:

VECTA has worked with vendors and other manufacturers to recycle scrap material from their production lines. Scrap foam is baled and sold back to their supplier, who use it to make rebond for carpet padding. Fabric trimmings are also baled and sent back to the parent company (Steelcase) who combine cloth from several facilities and sell the scrap to a company that uses them as insulation for car door panels. Left over bolts of fabric are sold to a Dallas company to make horse blankets. Some bolts are also sold to employees for their personal use. Scrap leather is sold to a California company who uses it to make handbags.

Environmental Benefits:

Since March of 1991, the actual waste sent to a landfill by VECTA has decreased from 17,644 cubic yards to 4,788 cubic yards a year. VECTA recycles, on average, about 145 tons of paper and cardboard, 6 tons of scrap metal, 24 tons of foam and 16 tons of scrap leather per year.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

VECTA initially paid $8,800 for a baler which one employee runs almost full time. Since VECTA began recycling, landfill disposal fees have increased 20%. However, pickups of landfill wastes by the local disposal company have been reduced by nearly 50% resulting in a $15,000 annual costs savings. With the addition of revenues from recycled materials VECTA's annual cost savings/benefit totaled $38,000 during the last fiscal year - after deducting labor costs for running the baler.

Source: TCEQ