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by Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library

To support Border Waste Wi$ e’s goal of reducing solid waste in the San Diego-Tijuana Border area, the project partners focused on three main activities:

1. Business Assistance
2. Training and Outreach
3. Information Resources

Many of these activities were geared towards providing technical assistance directly to Border companies, particularly maquiladoras.

Border Waste Wi$ e provided onsite waste reduction and recycling assistance to the maquiladora sector and businesses in Otay Mesa, California. Services included:

• Waste reduction assessments
• Training for specific businesses
• Implementation assistance

We provided waste reduction assessments and other technical assistance to more than 25 large and medium-sized companies including Sony and Hasbro. SAIC’s waste reduction specialists and trained municipal and university staff and students conducted the assessments.

Border Waste Wi$ e trained municipal staff, university staff and students and others on waste reduction. The primary goal of this training program was to enhance the capabilities of local organizations to provide ongoing waste reduction assistance to Border industries. The training program was led by national and international training experts from SAIC and Eugene Tseng and Associates.

In March and April 1996, the Partners held a two-day training session on conducting a landfill composition study and a separate two-day session on business waste reduction and recycling.

The sessions, held at the Universidad Autonóma de Baja California (UABC), were attended by between 30 and 40 people. The training sessions used a comprehensive waste reduction training guide prepared by Border Waste Wi$ e. English and spanish versions were produced. 

In September 1996, a third training session was held in Tijuana that focused on fine-tuning the waste reduction assessment techniques used by municipal and university staff and students in the business assistance program.

The Project Partners sponsored the Border Waste Wi$ e Conference held on December 5, 1996 in Tijuana where project results were discussed, additional training on business waste reduction were provided and the companies and other organizations and individuals participating in this project were recognized. 

Border Waste Wi$ e developed several information tools to support waste reduction activities of Border industries, government agencies, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and other technical assistance providers. These tools and resources can also be used to support non-Border related waste reduction activities. These tools include:

• Border Waste Wi$ e Online, this bilingual website

• Border Waste Wi$ e’s San Diego and Tijuana Solid Waste Recyclers Directories

• Success stories, assessment reports, fact sheets and brief industry waste reduction guides developed by Border Waste Wi$ e.

• Data on solid waste entering the Tijuana landfill that Border Waste Wi$ e partners, including municipal officials and students gathered during several days on-site at the landfill. This data focused the business assistance activities on key waste streams and helped lay the groundwork for characterizing the region’s solid waste stream.

Most of this information is available on Border Waste Wi$ e Online.

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by Noah Scalin

The San Diego-Tijuana Border Waste Wi$ e Project was a binational public-private partnership that helped businesses in this large metropolitan region take advantage of the economic and environmental opportunities of waste reduction and recycling and went from 1996 to 1998.

Border Waste Wi$ e provided technical assistance to manufacturers on innovative ways to increase materials efficiency, and reduce and recycle wastes. Our primary goal was to enhance economic competitiveness and ease the environmental pressures resulting from the region’s large and rapidly growing maquiladora and industrial sectors.

Border Waste Wi$ e helped more than 27 large and medium-sized manufacturers in the electronics, transportation, plastic injection and furniture industries identify methods and technologies to reduce waste in product design, manufacturing and packaging.

Our accomplishments were due, in part, to our industry partners’ commitment to environmental innovation and willingness to share their success stories to inspire other companies.

• Create and implement a successful binational pilot project to reduce solid waste generated by industries along the San Diego-Tijuana Border.

• Build public-private partnerships based on common interests of solid waste reduction, including cutting material and waste disposal costs, conserving natural resources and landfill space, and supporting markets for recycled materials.

• Spark a long-term commitment to waste reduction along the Border in order to ensure continuation of this project.

• Provide onsite technical assistance to manufacturers along the Border by conducting solid waste reduction assessments, training and implementation assistance.

• Enhance the capabilities of San Diego and Tijuana’s municipal solid waste reduction programs through training.

• Train students and educators at the Autonomous University of Baja California and San Diego State University in waste reduction and business assistance.

• Obtain information and data on waste generation in the region in order to set project priorities and support ongoing binational waste management planning.

• Develop information resources to support the waste reduction activities of Border industries, government agencies, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, and other technical assistance providers.

• Inspire and provide a positive example for industry waste reduction initiatives in other U.S./Mexico Border areas.

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by CraftyGoat

Become a WasteWi$ e Member!

Many U.S. companies have demonstrated that by reducing and recycling materials that would otherwise become trash, they can reap substantial savings, sometimes millions of dollars per year.
EPA developed the WasteWi$ e program to assist businesses in taking cost-effective actions to reduce solid waste.
To accept the WasteWi$ e challenge, your company would commit to achievements that you choose in each of three areas:

Waste prevention
Recycling collection
Buying or manufacturing recycled products

Why Reduce Solid Waste?

Each of the three waste reduction activities offers distinct benefits, both for the environment and your bottom line.

Waste Prevention Waste prevention can save your company money through lower purchasing and disposal costs. It can also save your customers money by reducing what they throw out. Avoiding the generation of waste reduces the burden on disposal facilities, conserves natural resources, and often reduces pollution.

Recycling Collection
Collecting recyclables can help keep large amounts of material out of your company’s dumpster. It can reduce your waste disposal bill and generate revenues from the sale of some materials. Recycling offers some of the same environmental benefits as waste prevention: extending the life of landfills, conserving natural resources, and reducing pollution.

Buying or Manufacturing Recycled Products
Recycled products are of high quality and can be competitively priced compared to virgin products. Buying and manufacturing goods with recycled content helps ensure that recycling will continue to advance and will eventually help lower the cost of recycled products.

Why Join WasteWi$ e

In addition to the benefits of waste reduction outlined above, participation in WasteWi$ e offers several advantages.

• EPA will provide technical assistance via a hotline and electronic bulletin board, “how to” publications, lessons from other companies, and regular program updates.
• Successful waste reduction efforts will be highlighted in EPA documents, business magazines, environmental journals, and trade publications.
• Participating companies also may use the WasteWi$ e logo in their advertising.
• WasteWi$ e provides an opportunity for your firm to be viewed by peers and customers as a leader in environmental initiatives.

Commit to Achieving Waste Reduction Results
Becoming a WasteWi$ e member means committing to achieve results in each of these three areas:

Waste prevention
Recycling collection
Buying or manufacturing recycled products

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by ::: Radar Communication :::

Waste Prevention

Waste prevention is eliminating waste before it is created. For many companies, this involves eliminating waste that would go into their own dumpsters, as well as materials that would become waste for their customers. Some ways to prevent waste are to use less of a material, reuse materials and supplies, and purchase products that create less waste.

What Would I Do as a WasteWi$ e Member?

As a WasteWi$ e member, you would commit to identify and implement three significant waste prevention actions. Your firm would choose these actions after you have determined that they are practical and cost-effective. The types of actions your firm could implement include:

• Purchasing supplies in reusable containers
• Reducing paper use through electronic communication and double-sided photocopies.
• Leaving grass clippings on the lawn.
• Redesigning products or packaging to use less material.
• Working with vendors to reduce transport packaging.
• Using two-way envelopes for billing customers.

Recycling Collection

Recycling collection involves the separation, collection, storage, and removal of recyclable materials. It also includes composting materials off-site such as in a municipal composting program. Items collected for recycling will vary depending on the materials your company generates and the availability of markets for those materials. Collection of recyclables is a high-profile activity that many companies are already enthusiastically implementing.

What would I Do as a WasteWi$ e Member?

As a WasteWi$ e member, you would commit to expand or improve programs for collecting recyclables on company premises. This may mean starting a new program, if you don’t already have one. It could also mean making improvements to an existing program by adding new materials to be collected, improving program efficiency through activities like employee education, or providing community outreach.

Common recyclables include:
• Computer printout paper
• Corrugated cardboard
• Newsprint and magazines
• High-grade paper (e.g., copier paper)
• Low-grade paper (e.g., colored paper)
• Glass containers
• Plastic containers
• Aluminum containers
• Steel containers

Buying or Manufacturing Recycled Products

Buying recycled means purchasing products that contain both preconsumer and postconsumer recovered materials. Company purchasing officials can work with your suppliers and vendors to determine which products contain recycled content. Often these products are competitively priced compared to virgin products.
Manufacturing recycled, an option available to manufacturers, means increasing the amount of postconsumer recovered materials in products, thus ensuring that collected materials are used in new products.

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by CraftyGoat

What Would I Do as a WasteWi$ e Member?

For this part of the WasteWi$ e program, nonmanufacturing firms would commit to increase the recycled content in purchased products, either by purchasing recycled products instead of virgin products or by increasing the recycled content in those recycled products that you already buy.
If you are a manufacturer, you have two options for meeting this part of the program: increase the recycled content in products purchased as described above or increase the percentage of postconsumer recovered material in your products. Some of the many products that contain recycled content:

Office/Printing

• Office paper
• Computer paper
• Newsprint

Fleet Management

• Lubricating oil
• Retread tires

Construction Products

• Dry wall
• Insulation
• Carpets
• Paving materials

Janitorial

• Tissue products
• Trash can liners

Shipping and Receiving

• Containers and packaging
• Pallets

How Does the Project Work?

There are four basic steps to setting and achieving your WasteWi$ e goals.

1. Sign Up
To join the WasteWi$ e program, fill out the registration form at the end of this brochure and mail or fax the form to EPA. Be sure to complete sections A and B. Before completing the form, you’ll need to determine:

• The facilities that initially will be included in the program. The challenge can be taken by your entire company or by individual segments, such as corporate headquarters or a specific region, division, or facility. if you start with a segment of your firm, you can always expand to other facilities in a year or two.
• The senior official who will commit your company to the program. joining WasteWise requires the signature of a senior official who can commit company resources to the waste reduction program. It is also helpful if this person can effect changes in company operations such as purchasing and facilities management.

2. Get Started
To get started in WasteWi$ e, it’s important to understand your company’s waste and how it is generated and handled.
EPA will provide WasteWi$ e members with A Business Guide for Reducing Solid Waste to get you started. The guide will help you take a look at your operations and make educated decisions about waste prevention, recycling, and buying recycled. EPA will provide case studies of businesses that have achieved cost savings and improved operations through waste reduction. We’ll also provide “tip sheets” that provide information on waste prevention, recycling, and buying recycled materials.

3. Choose Your Goals and Take Action
Based on your review of company operations, you’ll choose the waste prevention, recycling, and buying or manufacturing actions that make the most sense for your firm. Using a one-page form that EPA will provide, let us know what your plans are, so that we can develop and provide targeted technical information to assist your waste reduction program. We’ll also be available via telephone and electronic bulletin board to answer questions.

4. Share Your Results
After your program is underway, we’ll ask you to share your results with EPA so that we can highlight waste reduction opportunities for others and gauge the program’s progress. Using a simple form that EPA will provide, let us know each year how your ,waste reduction initiatives are progressing and estimate your firm’s achievements in terms of:

• Waste prevented (weight or volume).
• Recyclables collected (weight or volume).
• Amount spent on products with increased recycled content or the increased amount (in terms of dollars or weight) of postconsumer content in products that you manufacture.

We’d also like to hear about any cost savings or other successes resulting from your waste reduction program.

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by greensambaman

EPA Assistance

The WasteWi$ e program will offer several forms of technical assistance to help participating companies find waste reduction opportunities and set waste reduction goals. The following resources will be available to provide details on the elements of a successful program:

• EPA’s A Business Guide for Reducing Solid Waste.
• Case studies of successful waste reduction by businesses.
• Tip sheets on waste reduction.
• Project updates.
• Additional sources of waste reduction information.

WasteWise staff will be available by telephone (1-800-EPAWISE) to assist you with questions on:

• Enrollment
• Waste assessments
• Goal setting
• Waste reduction tips
• Reporting

EPA’s technical assistance will focus on nonmanufacturing waste reduction actions.

Waste Reduction Successes

These are just a few of the many firms that are successfully cutting waste …

Waste Prevention
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company estimates that it saves approximately $ 300,000 each year through numerous waste prevention measures, including:

• Reducing or eliminating shrink wrap packaging on forms and handbooks.
• Using double-sided copies and electronic mail.
• Reusing remanufactured laser cartridges, pallets, three-ring binders, and packing materials.

McDonald’s has made waste prevention part of its everyday business. Over the past year, through reductions in children’s meal boxes and bags, sandwich wrap resizing, container packaging redesign, and other reductions, the average McDonald’s restaurant in the United States has decreased its packaging by more than 650 pounds. These reductions resulted in a total of nearly 3,000 tons of avoided packaging waste from the 9,000 McDonald’s restaurants.

Recycling Collection
In 1986, a small group of employees at Honda of America’s Marysville, Ohio, auto assembly plant, called the “Wastewatchers,” started a corrugated cardboard recycling program. Honda estimates that from 1990 to 1992, approximately 15,000 tons of corrugated cardboard were recycled, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in avoided disposal costs.

Buying or Manufacturing Recycled Products
E.I. DuPont Company currently buys $ 63 million worth of recycled packaging materials and other recycled products each year. Since 1990, a “buy-recycled” team has worked to increase the company’s purchases of packaging, paper products, plastics, office supplies, and construction materials with recycled content.

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by Noah Scalin

ABOUT THIS GUIDE

This guide is designed to help managers of electronics manufacturing plants increase solid waste reduction and recycling. Smart organizations know that waste reduction is simply good business because it directly improves your bottom line by cutting materials and waste disposal costs. Waste reduction also helps you achieve:

Efficiency improvements in manufacturing (e.g., snap-in units),
Healthier workplace,
Cost-effective compliance with regulations,
ISO 14000 standards,
Cleaner local environment, and
Enhanced company image

Whether your company already has a waste reduction program or wants to start one, this guide’s practical techniques and examples will benefit you.

Electronics is the largest and one of the most competitive industries along the U.S.-Mexico border. Constant changes in technologies reduce product life cycles and increase customer expectations. Many companies, both large and small, have embraced waste reduction as part of their total quality management and continuous improvement programs.

Although this guide is intended to help electronic product manufacturers, many of the waste reduction strategies and techniques apply to all manufacturers.

Improving your bottom line through waste reduction

Recycling revenues from selected plants in Tijuana, Mexico
(1995 dollars)

Border Waste Wi$ e

This guide is part of the Border Waste Wi$ e Project, a solid waste reduction and recycling effort in the border region. The project is funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Technology Initiative, with substantial in-kind contributions by each project partner.

Border Waste Wi$ e focuses on providing technical assistance and training to U.S.,Maquiladora and Mexican National companies in the Tijuana, Baja California and the San Diego, California border region in order to help them take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of solid waste reduction. Participation in this program is completely voluntary and nonregulatory.

Fact sheets, recyclers listings, industry case studies and other information that complement this guide are available from Border Waste Wi$ e’s Internet site (http://www.borderwastewise.org). Appendix A is a list of project partner contacts.

Review this guide and compare it to your program. If your company is not taking full advantage of the suggestions presented here, start implementing some simple changes. We guarantee that you will find opportunities to improve your company’s bottom line, image and local environment.

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by Titanas

Border Waste Wi$ e Partnership

City of San Diego
City of Tijuana
Cal-EPA, Integrated Waste Management Board
U.S. EPA
Science Applications International Corporation
Autonomous University of Baja California
San Diego State University

Products, Processes and Wastes

The macroelectronics industry covers 1) the assembly of microelectronic components, such as printed circuit boards, into larger electronic products like computers and consumer electronics and 2) the fabrication of housings for these products.

Electronics manufacturing includes a wide array of processes specific to the products produced. The primary steps of the manufacturing process are: receiving raw materials, processing materials, manufacturing the product, and storing, packaging and shipping finished products.

Manufacturing products generally follows these four steps: 1) Materials and preassembled subparts are placed in boxes or totes for access by production staff. 2) Prefabricated printed circuit boards (PC boards) undergo surface mounting and/or manual/automatic insertion processes which are then followed by wave soldering and water jet washing. Finished PC boards are connected to testing devices to ensure they function properly. 3) Other components are assembled with the PC boards and the product is placed in its housing. 4) Products are tested and rejects are separated. Most electronics manufacturers have a very low reject rate (1 to 2%).

Solid wastes generated from these processes include component wire trimmings (or “pins”) which can either be loose or adhered to a paper backing, circuit board trim materials, plastic component reels, plastic integrated circuit packing tubes, scrap electrical components and circuit boards, rejected parts, cleanup rags, general office waste, white and colored paper, packing materials (includes polystyrene, cardboard, paperboard, wood pallets, and plastic bags, anti-static bags, bubble-wrap, shrink wrap, open cell foam), scrap labels, and label backing paper.

Plants that have cafeterias or food service/break areas also generate food

wastes, glass and plastic containers and other wastes typically associated with serving food. Food wastes are a large percentage total waste by weight at plants that have cafeterias. For example, Sony’s plant generates a very large amount of food wastes because the company serves 5,000 meals a day.

Examples of solid wastes generated by products manufactured (percentage, 1996)

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by Jcarlosbulas

Waste Reduction Techniques

You have opportunities to improve waste reduction throughout your plant. While some techniques may be company-specific, many apply to all electronic manufacturers. Evaluate these techniques in terms of payback, annual savings and impact on your operations to select the ones to implement. More ideas on steps to improve your program are provided at the end of this guide.

Waste reduction includes waste prevention, material reuse, recycling, composting practices, and buying products with recycled content.

Product Design and Manufacturing

Use “air molding” to make plastic components (e.g., housing), reducing plastic use by as much as 40%.

Employ integral molding process and snap-in designs to eliminate the need for welding and gluing.

Enhance product “recyclability” by minimizing the number of plastic resins used and by avoiding compound materials.

Make housings and other parts (e.g., television chassis frames) out of 100% recycled plastic.

Although these design changes may be costly, they often cut overall production costs per unit by as much as 50% due to fewer materials and faster assembly. Moreover, consumers respond well to green products.

Use automatic insertion processes to minimize reject rates.

Order printed circuit boards, pins and other components to as exact specifications as possible to reduce cutoffs.

Use “in process” quality assurance and controls (e.g., electronic monitoring) to help maintain quality.

Xentek De Taiyo, a manufacturer of power sources, redesigned the specifications for metal fabrication which significantly reduced cutoffs and improved materials efficiency.

Materials Reuse & Recycling

Dismantle inoperable products and reuse subparts in the manufacturing process.

Reuse wire and shrink-wrap spools onsite or return them to the vendor.

Launder and reuse shop towels and rags. Kodak’s Tijuana plant saves $ 20,000/year by contracting with an industrial laundry.

Recycle materials from production processes, such as circuit board pieces, steel and copper pins (from trimming lead wires used in PC board insertion), polystyrene, PVC packaging tubes for integrated circuits, scrap equipment, and solder. Many border manufacturers, such as, Honeywell and Sony, have implemented cost-effective methods to segregate these materials in production lines.

Make recycling convenient. Provide bins in all areas where materials are generated. Bins are available from many different vendors or can be fabricated onsite using empty drums, crates, or boxes. The bins should be colorful, easy to use (i.e., no heavy lids or tools required to open), and clearly marked to indicate the appropriate materials to be disposed in each.

Schedule regular collections. Recyclable materials must be collected and transferred before the collection bins get full. By doing so, sufficient space will always be available for properly segregating and storing the materials.

Establish contracts with local recycling companies for regular removal of recyclables. In some instances, it may be more profitable for a facility to haul its own materials to a recycler than to pay for the pickup service.

Periodically review market values to ensure you are getting the best value for recyclables. Verify that you are receiving the best prices for high-value materials and minimizing costs on others.

Ask workstation operators to control materials segregation. Try to allocate recycling revenues by cost center in order to provide incentives for production managers. Also provide incentives, such as bonuses, for production workers.

Use on-line waste exchanges, such as the Chicago Board of Trade’s system and the State of California’s CalMax/CalMex exchange to sell or find a use for materials. Go to Border Waste Wi$ e on-line to access these exchanges.

Crydom, a Tijuana facility that makes solid state relays and transistors, dismantles inoperable products and sends reusable parts (e.g., housings) back to the production line.

Philips Consumer Electronics has developed an innovative materials reuse program in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Philips donates wooden and metal pallets, the wood from the crates, cardboard from packaging and Styrofoam to needy families for use in home building. Workers from Philips donate their time and aid in the building of these structures.

Panasonic’s plant in Tijuana, which manufacturers various products, including car stereo speakers, enjoyed an annual savings of $ 107,000 in recycling revenues and reduced disposal costs during 1995.

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by MissMalaprop

Packaging Reduction

Reduce product packaging. Review all packaging specifications for redundancy and develop a policy that recommends or requires review of potential solid waste impacts of packaging requirements.

Use reusable packaging. Determine the cost-benefit of replacing single-use corrugated boxes in certain shipping operations with durable distribution packaging that can be reused hundreds of times. Several large manufacturers have established closed-loop distribution systems to reduce packaging, labor and waste disposal costs.

Reuse materials and packaging. Reuse pallets and other packaging materials, internally or donate these materials for reuse by others.

The decisions you make on packaging size and type, as well as shipping specifications, impact waste generation at wholesalers, retailers and consumers. Your customers also want to reduce waste disposal costs. Consider this when making packaging decisions.

Honeywell, which manufacturers gas control valves units at its Tijuana facility, ships parts and products to and from other Honeywell facilities in the U.S. in reusable plastic totes.

Corporation Asahi, which repairs and refurbishes telephone answering machines, secures products on pallets with reusable plastic straps and metal clips, thus reducing new plastic strapping and shrink-wrap purchases and cutting these wastes by 40%.

Purchasing

Modify supplier/vendor contracts by adding “affirmative procurement,” “packaging reduction,” “recycled content,” and “design for recycling” requirements.

Develop a facility-specific affirmative procurement program to increase purchasing of recycled-content products, such as cardboard and white paper. Buying recycled products (”closing the loop”) is the best way to expand markets for recycled materials and to reduce their costs.

Purchase less or non-toxic materials, such as non-lead solder and flux.

Order supplies by voice-mail or electronic-mail, and order in bulk and concentrated form to reduce excess packaging (e.g. janitorial supplies and cleaning materials).

Office Paper Use

Implement two-sided photocopying with copiers that have this capability.

Reuse one-sided copies by using the clean side for note pads, distribution lists, and fax cover sheets.

Maximize the use of electronic messages. Review and maintain documents on computer disks rather than printing out multiple hard copies.

Eliminate unnecessary forms. Redesign them to fit on a half sheet.

Reuse envelopes or use two-way envelopes.

Lambda, a Tijuana plant that manufacturers capacitors and other electronic components, has a recycled products purchasing program for paper and cardboard.

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