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NPEP Success Story: City of Dallas
City of Dallas Aviation Department’s Love Field Terminal Facility
Removes More Than 4400 Pounds of PCB Ballasts
Dallas Love Field Terminal building opened for business in 1958. Love Field serves the Dallas Metroplex and supports both commercial and general aviation aircraft. A staff of about 140 dedicated workers supports all managerial, administrative, custodial, and maintenance requirements for the Field. Current passenger enplanements exceed six million per year.
The Department of Aviation's NPEP Goal
The Department of Aviation joined NPEP in July, 2005 and set an NPEP goal to remove 4,000 pounds of ballasts containing PCBs from the lighting fixtures.
Since 1958, we have engaged in multiple renovation projects at the Terminal Facility but the basic lighting plan has remained the same. The fluorescent lighting that was originally installed used the best technology available at the time and PCB ballasts were the implement of choice for this early lighting. In the intervening 49 years, the lighting industry has wisely moved away from the PCB-filled ballast and gravitated to more efficient and less environmentally hazardous ballast.
The Director of our Aviation Department chose to champion the upgrade to the lighting system and the removal of this hazardous material: “Not only are we removing a hazardous material from potential human contact but we are doing so by upgrading our lighting and using a better and more economically supportable system. It is the right thing to do.”
NPEP Project Implementation
We planned to achieve our goal by removing over 12,000 light ballasts from Love Field. We knew that our energy savings would help finance the ballast replacement.
In the period since construction, many of the PCB ballast had failed and were removed in normal maintenance activities but accountability for this early removal was hard to substantiate. Two years before starting the ballast replacement program, we initiated a Universal Waste Program and recorded all manifests of materials recycled in a single accounting system.
In the early planning phase of the project, we inventoried the PCB-containing ballasts. We also consulted qualified sources throughout the southern half of the United States and found an appropriate HAZMAT handler and recycler.
We accomplished most of the lighting work after normal operating hours in the Terminal. As the ballasts were brought into the Universal Waste collection area, each was assessed for the presence of PCBs and sorted accordingly. A HAZMAT transporter then shipped the ballasts to a qualified recycler where they were broken down and the various parts managed according to the recycling requirements.
Hurdles Faced
We ovecame numerous hurdles such as finding an appropriate recycler in Texas and a transporter that had a contractual agreement with the recycler. We also persuaded management that there was an economic benefit to be achieved by replacing the ballasts and that the proper destruction and recycling of the fluorescent bulbs had an additional environmental benefit. Shipping costs for the ballasts were significant.
Waste Minimization Results
We surpassed our NPEP goal by removing and recycling 4,484 pounds of PCB Ballasts.
We also recycled more than 14,000 fluorescent bulbs. All fluorescent light tubes were sent to a light recycler where the glass, metal, and mercury components were separated and collected for recycling. This program, although not an NPEP goal, was a byproduct of the lighting upgrade.
We have not quantified our energy savings yet, but the results look very promising. The payback period for this project was designed to be less than seven years and we are confident that we can achieve that goal.
We are currently considering starting a program to crush fluorescent bulbs in-house and ship the resultant materials to a recycler as ground glass, scrap metal, and mercury. This project would have a payback period of less than two years.
Lessons Learned
Lesson #1: specific goals often have multiple, related results that are beneficial to both the corporation and the environment.
Lesson #2: it is easier to achieve difficult goals with the support and involvement of upper management. We were fortunate that Senior Management was behind our project.
Lesson #3: keep looking. One success gives you the reputation for finding good solutions and you should take advantage of that leverage before it is forgotten.