| Source
Newsletter fall 1997 |
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Maybe Your Chemistry
Can Come in Small Packages
- by Donna
Peterson
You don't have
to be on the Mir Space Station to benefit from using freeze-dried
products. They may be advantageous right in your facility.
The prepress department
at West Group, a publishing company located in Eagan, Minnesota,
wanted to eliminate hydroquinone—which is toxic—from
their developer. They also wanted to reduce their overall
handling of liquid chemistry and minimize the number of different
developing solutions being used.
West tested a new
nonhydroquinone-based product for Fuji Hunt Corporation, a
photographic chemical supplier. The new product met all of
West's goals and has replaced the use of six different hydroquinone-based
developers.
Instead of being shipped
in plastic drums and containers, the developer is freeze-dried
and vacuum packed. The contents of an 8.4 pound freeze-dried
package are diluted with water to make 53 gallons of developer
in mixing equipment that West assembled with off-the-shelf
materials.
"The new developer
has been flawless in the process," said Craig Yolitz,
prepress manager. The system reduced the number of chemistries
used in film processing "and maintenance costs have gone
to zero."
| The
change has brought many benefits to the company: |
| • |
The hazards
of storing huge volumes of liquid developer have disappeared. |
| • |
The needs for
storage space have been reduced by 150
square feet. |
| • |
Concerns about
materials freezing during transport
or forklift accidents have been eliminated. |
| • |
Overall volume
of solid waste has decreased—400,
5-gallon plastic containers per year no longer require
disposal. |
| • |
Consolidating
from six to one product has reduced ordering costs
and paperwork. |
Could a freeze-dried
package work for you? Ask your vendor. Your company could
reap the same kinds of benefits that the West Group has.
West Group is a 1997 winner of the Governor's
Award for Excellence in Waste and Pollution Prevention.
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