This innovation came from an employee suggestion, and it saves the company several hundred thousand dollars each. Recycling project reduces emissions by 8,000 pounds per year. This project reduces ozone depleting emissions by approximately 8,000 pounds a year. Improved wastewater treatment also saves money. Ultrafiltration removes oils and suspended solids from oily waste streams before they reach the sewer.
New programs continue to benefit the company and the environment.
Initial pollution prevention successes encouraged the Boeing Defense and Space Group to continue its program long after receiving the 1992 Governor's Award. On-site treatment of spent fixer waste reduced yearly hazardous waste generation by 20,000 gallons. The company also implemented a new system to track hazardous waste streams to the point of generation. The system is expected to be instrumental in promoting sound management of all waste streams, quantifying pollution prevention successes, and raising employee awareness of waste generation. Larry Weinberg, an environmental administrator in the Boeing Defense and Space Group, confirms that an important key to the success of the facility's waste reduction program was Boeing's pollution prevention plan, developed in 1990 under Washington State's Hazardous Waste Reduction Act.