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NPEP Success Story: Chase Scientific Glass, Inc.

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Chase Scientific Glass, Inc. Eliminates 99 Pounds of Lead

The Chase Scientific Glass facility is a 300,000 square foot facility with approximately 500 employees. The plant site has been at its present location for twenty-one years. The plant produces hospital and laboratory glassware. The finished product is used in analytical work in both hospitals and industry. The customer base includes hospitals, laboratories, and other industries. The products are produced from purchased glass tubing on specialized forming machines. The facility produces over one billion pieces of product per year.


EPA officials present an NPEP Achievement Award to Jim Riner of Chase Scientific Glass on October 25, 2005.

 

Chase's NPEP Goal
The Chase company chose to reduce the lead-based paint used to decorate glass to zero pounds. The EH&S department wanted to remove the lead-based paints because of the exposure to employees involved in the decorating and packing process of the materials. The company decided to find a paint source other than the lead-based paint to decorate the glass products. The plant invested in new equipment that could provide the ability to use epoxy-based paints as the decorating media. The equipment was a lower temperatue curing oven (lehr) with finer tuning controls.

Hurdles Faced
The main hurdle was obtaining an epoxy-based paint that would meet customer demands.

Waste Minimization Results
The plant installed a curing oven which allows only the use of epoxy paint due to temperature limitations of the new equipment. Lead paint usage has been eliminated to zero as have employee exposures.

Lessons Learned
We discovered that all facility departments, including Senior Management, Engineering, and Environmental can reach goals set when working together with those goals in mind.

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