The company runs eight printing presses during three shifts around the clock, five days a week at its Lawrence, Massachusetts, plant. The company uses a flexographic printing process with rubber printing plates. Every time the ink is changed on a press, the press must be cleaned. Clean, unused ink left in ink trays is returned to its original container. Matatal decided F.C. Meyer could reduce the volume of wastewater produced and the cost of wastewater disposal by training press workers to use no more water than is absolutely necessary to clean the presses.
Workers now drain as much ink as they can from the press's bins and reservoirs.
They also thoroughly scrape excess inks off the press parts before any water is added. And they use as little wash water as possible. Most of the water used to clean the presses at F.C. Meyer is now reused. The company asked its supplier to deliver black ink with 10 percent less water in it, and F.C. Meyer adds some of its wastewater, with no apparent effect on the quality of the ink's color. The wastewater can also be added in smaller quantities to other colors, such as grey.