Environmentally Conscious

Over the years, Micro Mold and Plastikos have made some significant strides to become more environmentally conscious. Through our Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle program we have been able to minimize our consumption of raw materials, and have a direct impact on our plant.

For instance, each year we process approximately 500,000 pounds of plastic material, which is composed of oil, minerals, glass, and other compounds. In an effort to reduce our consumption of raw material, our engineers have developed a proprietary method to minimize the amount of plastic that we use in our day-to-day production. As a result, we have seen a reduction of material consumption in excess of 15% percent, which equates to an annual savings of 75,000 pounds or virgin material each year.

Not only does this project result in over 75,000 fewer pounds of waste from ultimately being sent to the local Erie county landfill, it also saves hundred of barrels of oil and chemical compounds, tens-of-thousands of kilowatt hours of electricity, tens-of-thousands of gallons of water, and tens-of-thousands of pounds of glass and minerals from being consumed at our material suppliers (as well as the enormous amount of corresponding greenhouse gases).

In addition to reducing the consumption of raw material, we have also invested in new energy-efficient lighting fixtures in order to reduce the amount of electricity that we use. The result of this project reduced electricity consumption by 150,000 kilowatt hours per year, which in turn, saves 108 metric tons of CO₂ from being produced.

We have also invested in other electrical conserving equipment such as: compressed air driven dryers, all-electric injection molding machines, and occupancy sensors in less traveled areas of the building. With these investments, we expect to save over 275,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year. That equates to:

• 197.8 metric tons of CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere
• Annual greenhouse gas emissions from 36.2 passenger vehicles
• CO₂ emissions from 22,361 gallons of gasoline consumed
• CO₂ emissions from 458 barrels of oil consumed
• CO₂ emissions from the electricity use of 27.3 homes for one year
• Carbon sequestered annually by 44.8 acres of pine or fir forests
• CO₂ emissions from 8,208 propane cylinders used for home barbeques
• CO₂ emissions from burning 1 railcar's worth of coal
• Greenhouse gas emissions avoided by recycling 67.9 tons of waste instead of sending it to the landfill

Furthermore, Micro Mold and Plastikos have invested in the several other environmentally conscious projects, such as:

• Transitioned from paper to electronic documentation
• Expanded program to recycle regrind material
• Initiated paper, plastic, cardboard, and aluminum recycling program

Our goal is to promote other manufacturers in the area to begin exploring ways to make their production process more environmentally conscious. As a team, we truly feel can have a dramatic impact on the well being of our planet.