Taking Green up the Chain DuPont Achieves Zero Landfill Status in Building Innovations Business Just about everyone in the surfacing industry has seen the numerous
environmentally friendly products to hit the marketplace, ranging from materials housing recycled particulate to those
utilizing sustainably harvested bio-based
components. However, there is a lot more that goes into manufacturing surfacing material
than the actual material itself. What about the scrap and the packaging and all that goes
into shipping and distribution of the products? At least one major surfacing material supplier, DuPont, has carried the initiative right up the chain, and has achieved zero landfill
status in its Building Innovations business.
It did this by reducing, reusing and recycling manufacturing byproducts and waste at
manufacturing sites globally. After three years
of focused effort, DuPont Building Innovations has become completely landfill free, reducing its environmental footprint from 81 million
lbs. of landfill waste annually to zero. Now,
through the “Drive to Zero” landfill program,
none of the waste generated by the business from the manufacture of DuPont Corian solid surfaces, DuPont Zodiaq quartz surfaces, DuPont Tyvek weatherization systems
products and geosynthetic textiles is sent to landfills.
“The Drive to Zero landfill program is good
for our business, good for the environment and highly valued by our customers,” said Timothy P. McCann, president of DuPont
ways, too. Manufacturing byproducts, unusable raw materials, product scrap, construction
debris and even cafeteria waste were all within scope at the project’s 15 global manufacturing and partner sites.
Today, material that previously may have been
destined for a landfill is being reused or recycled, including:
Building Innovations. “Working with our
■■ Sanding waste from the manufacture
landfill goal was critical to the success of
replacement in concrete;
footprint. Collaborating with our business
recycled content in first grade products —
our ambitious project goal of zero landfill.”
Corian solid surfaces that contain up to 20
supply chain partners to tackle the zero
of Corian and Zodiaq is used as a filler
our business in reducing its environmental
■■ Ground-up scrap Corian sheet is used as
partners allowed us to succeed in reaching
such as the company’s Terra Collection of
DuPont’s Building Innovations division created mountains of scrap from the manufacture of Corian solid surface and Zodiaq quartz surfacing, along with other products and ancillary processes, amounting to 81 million tons of waste per year. This is equivalent to the weight of 16,200 average cars or 1,013 loaded tractor trailers. However, through its “Drive to Zero” program it eliminated and repurposed all landfill wastes from 15 separate locations over the course of three years. ■■ Carrier belt film is sold to a third party who melts it down to make industrial adhesives (see Figure 3), and ■■ Cafeteria waste is recycled into worm bedding or converted into energy.
percent recycled content (see Figure 1);
How does a company go about finding suitable
use waste reduction strategies, but also
■■ Crushed scrap Corian is sold for use as
uses for its refuse? It isn’t easy. “Our Drive to
to accomplish a feat of this enormity and
stone (see Figure 2);
to Zero project was comprehensive in other
ground into animal bedding;
DuPont Building Innovations had to not only recycle and repurpose waste to be able
road sub-base material and as landscape
completely eliminate landfill usage. The Drive
■■ Shipping pallets are repaired, reused or
20 • Vol. 5 / Issue 2 • International Surface Fabricators Association
Zero team worked very hard to find the partners we could work with collaboratively to repurpose the waste generated by our manufacturing facilities,” said DuPont’s resident Six Sigma