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NPEP Success Story: GE Energy
GE Energy Exceeds Lead Reduction Goal
GE Energy, Solar Technologies joined NPEP in July 2007 and set a goal to reduce the quantity of lead disposed of as a hazardous waste by 85 pounds in one year.
GE Energy located in Newark, Delaware offers an array of solar products from complete solar electric systems to photovoltaic modules ranging from 66W - 200W. With flexible installation techniques for commercial, industrial and residential applications, GE’s solar technologies are efficient, reliable and easily adaptable to new and existing structures.
GE Energy's NPEP Goal
GE is committed to reducing the use and release of toxic and hazardous materials, preventing pollution, and conserving, recovering and recycling materials to the extent reasonably practicable. We implemented a process change to separately collect the lead-coated tabbing and interconnect which enables the lead to be recycled from these materials.
In this process, approximately 2,400 lbs of waste tabbing and interconnect are generated annually. The pieces of tabbing and interconnect were being disposed of as hazardous waste due to the 6.1% lead content.
Source Reduction, Recycling, and Recovery Alternatives Considered
Recycling was identified as the quickest reduction method to implement at this time. Source reduction, use of lead-free tabbing and interconnect will require significant testing and longer implementation to ensure product performance and reliability are maintained.
Hurdles Faced
The main hurdle that we faced was collection. In order for the tabbing and interconnect to be recycled it had to be placed in dedicated collection containers. If other materials were mixed with the tabbing and interconnect it could not be recycled. This became a challenge because employees had to be trained on new handling procedures to keep the materials separate. Several re-training sessions across all three shifts had to take place before complete success.
Waste Minimization Results
By July 2008, we recycled 2,400 pounds of tabbing and interconnect containing 145 pounds of lead – exceeding our goal by 70%. Besides being more environmentally responsive, recycling this material is 48% less expensive than disposal. We also realized an additional benefit in that this contributed to our re-classification from a Large to a Small Quantity Hazardous Waste Generator.
Lessons Learned
Lastly, this recycling effort spurred employees’ ideas and suggestions for other opportunities to reduce, reuse or recycle. So much so, that a Green Team has been formed to implement more “green” improvements across the site such as working more closely with regulatory agencies for guidance and training employees in proper procedures to assure that all the material used can be recycled or reused.