Hoechst Celanese-Corpus Christi Technical Center

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Equipment Disposal

Industry: Chemical Manufacturing

Wastes Reduced: Solid Waste

Substance: Electronic Equipment

Location: Corpus Christi, Nueces County TX

No. of employees: 370

Contact: Tammy Kostur

Phone: (512) 242-4075

Description:

The Technical Center is an R & D facility that constantly changes the processes in its pilot plant. Historically a pilot plant unit was torn down, and a new unit reconstructed as the process changed. Now we are building units more "generically" so that this reconstruction activity is minimized. Our salvage yard was filled with an overabundance of unwanted vessels, tanks, pumps, and other equipment from past pilot plant processes. The Technical Center also keeps up with the latest technology in computer equipment. This led to the site having entire rooms filled with outdated computer boards, monitors, main frames, and other miscellaneous equipment. Some of this material also ended up in the salvage yard.

P2 Application:

A company was located in Texas who would purchase and pick up the unwanted metal equipment, vessels, etc. for salvage. They would also accept all of the old computer equipment which was going to be salvaged for precious metals, plastics, and other components.

Environmental Benefits:

More than five truckloads of material were removed from the Technical Center. Two trucks contained computer parts that would have possibly had to go to a hazardous waste landfill. This saved at least sixty cubic yards of landfill area.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

The Technical Center received approximately $18,000.00 for the salvaged equipment, in addition to saving money in disposal cost. CCTC has been recycling steel and other metals for a long time, but had never before recycled computers or computer parts. Besides cleaning up the salvage yard, the facility reclaimed more than 1,000 square feet of office space that had been temporarily used to store the discarded computer equipment.

Source: TCEQ