Ron Bumpers i Eastman Chemical Company 1 WASTE MINIMIZATION AT EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY Good morning. I would like to thank the sponsors of this conference for inviting me to participate. It is a pleasure to be here. During the next few minutes I will be describing the Waste Minimization program at Eastman Chemical Company. First of all I would like to tell you a little about Eastman Chemical Company so that you can appreciate the enormity of our program. Eastman Chemical Company, a division of Eastman , produces over four hundred chemicals, three basic types of and two basic fibers. We have divisions in Kingsport, : Batesville, Arkansas: Longview, : and Columbia, . Eastman Chemical Company employs over 17,000 people. Eastman Chemical Company is in the midst of a major global expansion effort. Currently, we have two manufacturing locations in Great Britain and expect to be operating other manufacturing plants in Europe, Asia, and South America in the near future. I call Kingsport, Tennessee, our headquarters location, home. Tennessee Eastman alone covers 3,700 acres and has 400 buildings, 37 miles of railroad, and 28 miles of roads. Over 12,000 people are employed in Kingsport. Although none of our other manufacturing locations are as large, all of them are sophisticated chemical plants. During this talk, most of my examples will be from Tennessee Eastman. No Eastman Chemical Company products are sold directly to the retail market. Instead, they are sold to other manufacturers who use Eastman products to produce retail goods. Eastman chemicals are found in food emulsifiers, preservatives, adhesives, coatings, and medicines. Eastman plastics are seen in products such as beverage bottles, screwdriver handles, toys, and automobiles. Eastman fibers are found in a wide variety of clothing and home furnishings. You probably have Eastman fibers in the clothes you are wearing or in the drapes, upholstery, pillows, or other furnishings in your home. In addition, one business unit produces filter tow which is used by tobacco companies to make cigarette filters. With such large facilities and such a wide variety of products, I'm sure that you can imagine that waste management and waste minimization present a challenge. Our current waste minimization program is an outgrowth of Quality Management and Teamwork. Quality Management, which began at Eastman about ten years ago, is an everyday method of continually assessing and improving our products and services. Quality Management principles such as continual improvement, process control, and Ifdo it right the first time" can also be applied to a waste minimization program. As part of the Quality Management effort, Eastman uses teams to help manage the business. Each team evaluates its part of the business, assesses its responsibilities, and develops key areas that they must do well in for the company to succeed. Teams meet regularly to review to review their performance. The 2 interlocking team structure is made up of teams all the way from the president's team down to teams of technicians and operators. As you will see, teams are a vital part of our waste minimization program. Our waste minimization program has been formalized into a one page document which we call our "Waste Minimization Policy." It is specific about what needs to be accomplished, but it is general enough that each plant site or operating division can adapt it to their own needs. Each organization develops its own waste minimization plan, and subsequently reviews its plan, progress, and performance with higher level managing teams. As a result, the waste minimization process becomes self-sustaining rather than having a single individual or organization drive the effort, identify the problems, and propose solutions. Although we have been concerned about waste minimization for years, a new importance was placed on it with CMAs' Responsible Care initiative which calls for continuous improvement by the chemical industry in health, safety, and environmental performance . One of Responsible Care's six management codes is Pollution Prevention. Eastman's Waste Minimization Policy provides an excellent foundation for the implementation of the code. Now let's take a brief look at the Waste Minimization Policy which is made up of five parts: the vision, objective, waste definition, priniciples, and elements. Our vision is that Eastman Chemical Company be recognized by our employees, the community, the chemical industry, and regulatory agencies as a leader in waste minimization. We will do this by minimizing waste through source reduction, sales, reuse, , reclamation, and treatment. Eastman defines waste as any material that must be recovered, treated, disposed of, or discharged to the environment. Essentially, this covers everything that doesn't leave our plants as a product. Wastes can include discarded office paper, off quality scrap, sludge from our manufacturing processes, and spills. Our definition of wastes is broad. We believe that if you are interested in improving the environment, or in cost savings which result from reducing wastes, you need to consider all wastes, not just those that are regulated as hazardous or toxic. The Waste Minimization Policy also has a number of principles that give guidance to the organizations which are developing their own waste minimization plans. The first of these principles deals with accountability and responsibility. We believe that waste minimization is incorporated in everyone's daily job. You can't say, ttI've got orders to fill", or "It doesn't matter how much waste I produce, someone else will have to worry about that." We do have employees who can help manage and reduce wastes. However, each waste generator must take the initiative to see that waste minimization is a priority. It is also part of each organization's responsibility to see that wastes are handled by the proper facility, whether it is a liquid waste that needs to go to the wastewater treatment plant or a waste that should be incinerated. Accountability and responsibility also implies good management of the daily work. For example, a great deal of unnecessary waste might accidentally be created by an operator who is flushing waste material out of a tank. If the operator leaves during the flushing to do another job and gets delayed, by the time he returns there will be several hundred extra gallons of contaminated water needing to be treated. More careful planning of the daily work could prevent the extra waste from being produced. The second principle declares Eastman's intention to meet or exceed current and anticipated regulations and public interests. Our intention is to be a good corporate citizen. Meeting various regulatory requirements is a good starting point. However, our emphasis goes beyond just meeting expectations. Government regulations define acceptable and unacceptable environmental practices. We use them to assist us in establishing targets and benchmarks which we use to judge our performance. The next principle maintains that the current level of waste can always be reduced. We use teamwork and quality management techniques to identify waste minimization opportunities. The fourth principle states that we give special emphasis to RCRA hazardous wastes, SARA 313 chemicals, and chemicals identified by the Clean Air Act. A few years ago, we decided to make a concentrated effort to reduce RCRA wastes, especially those that had to be incinerated. Over the last four years, Tennessee Eastman has reduced the amount of incinerated wastes by 75 million pounds per year or 33 percent. Tennessee Eastman has also made a commitment to reduce SARA air emissions, especially which makes up 86 percent of our SARA air emissions. Acetone, a substance which we use in the production of yarn and filter tow, is commonly found in finger nail polish remover. We are committed to a 50 percent reduction in SARA air emissions by 1995. We are spending $30 million to reduce air emissions. We have projects under construction which we believe will enable us to achieve a 50 percent reduction in air emissions by 1993. Using 1989 as the base year, project work completed in 1990 and 1991 resulted in a twelve percent reduction in acetone air emissions. We are continuing to make progress toward %he qml. of a a fifty percent reduction. We don't just concentrate on hazardous wastes. In complex operations such as those found at Eastman Chemical Company, no single practice can adequately manage the variety of wastes we generate. Our waste policy recognizes the need for an integrated use of all waste management practices as appropriate. The most desirable solution is to minimize or prevent the formation of wastes. We constantly investigate ways to improve process and product design to reduce the amount of by-product wastes that are generated. Plans to construct new facilities or modify existing facilities are reviewed to determine the expected wastes and their impact on the environment. Products with environmentally unacceptable by-product wastes are not approved. We have had dozens of successful waste reduction projects. I would like to describe just two of them. A new process was developed at Tennessee Eastman for producing one of our major photographic developing products. The new process reduced our solid wastes by 60 million pounds per year. In addition, the new process produces 440 million gallons less wastewater per year than the old process. Recently, our plant, which produces chemicals from coal, switched from a high ash to a low ash coal. This switch reduced the amount of ash going to the landfill by 14 percent. It will extend the life of our landfill by one year. If we can't prevent wastes through source reduction, they are evaluated to determine if they can be recovered, reused, recycled, or sold. In this area, we have numerous success stories. Distillation columns in the Organic Chemicals Division recover 45 million pounds per year of solvent. They have been recently upgraded to recover an additional 20 million pounds of solvent per year. Each year the Organic Chemicals Division also recovers over two million pounds of isopropyl alcohol for reuse. The Cellulose Esters Division recovers three billion pounds of acid per year from by-product streams for reuse. Recovery of such products not only reduces the amount of wastes, we also see a considerable cost savings due to the need to purchase less raw material. By using by-product streams which have a high heat value as fuel in our boilers, we have been able to reduce consumption of coal by 26,000 tons per year. Some materials that used to be considered wastes are now sold. What is one person's trash may be another person's treasure. For example, we sell bottom ash from our coal fired boilers to a local business who uses it to produce cinder blocks. We also sell methyl acetate from which and are recovered. We also sell some off-class and scrap from our TENITE plastics division to manufacturers who use them to produce items such as video cassettes, garbage bags, flower pots, etc. Under a joint agreement with Waste Management, Tennessee Eastman provides the base load for a successful recycling center. Last year, as a result of our recycling program, Eastman reduced its incineration of general trash by over ten percent. In the first year alone, Eastman recycled almost 4 million pounds of office paper, cardboard, cellulose, and PET bottles. This center has not only been beneficial to Eastman's Waste Minimization program, it has enabled the communities in northeast Tennessee and southwest to start thriving recycling programs. Over 16 million pounds of material are being diverted from the local landfills each month. 5

The next step in the Waste Minimization hierarchy is reclamation. This involves removing a desired element from the waste stream and treating the remainder as an undesired component. Materials are being sent to off site facilities for metals recovery. The final step in the hierarchy of waste minimization is treatment. Responsible treatment is preferred over disposal. Tennessee Eastman's wastewater treatment plant was built in 1988. It covers eight acres, has a capacity of 40 million gallons, and treats an average of 25 million gallons per day. This facility would handle wastes from a city with a population of 175,000 people. At our incinerator we have two rotary kilns and a liquid destructor that burn both hazardous and nonhazardous wastes. The final principle in the Waste Minimization Policy states that land disposal and/or off-site treatment are minimized. We prefer to treat our wastes inhouse when possible. We believe that we know more about our wastes than anyone, and are in the best position to handle and treat them. Eastman owns and manages a landfill that handles ash from our boilers and coal gasification plant. We are in the process of constructing a disposal site to handle hazardous wastes from our incinerator. The Waste Minimization Policy also contains eleven elements. I would like to review just a few of these. The first element is that we have active management leadership and involvement at all levels of the company. Management support is essential in waste minimization. If the leaders don't think it is important, no one else will either. Our management team took the lead in developing and promoting the Waste Minimization Policy. Waste Minimization is a company expectation. The management team appointed a full time Waste Minimization Coordinator. In addition, each month the company steering team reviews progress being made on waste minimization and other environmental issues. It is one thing to say you are committed, it is another to allocate the resources necessary to get the job done. Resources can include both people and capital. During the last eight years, Eastman Chemical Company has spent nearly $800 million on projects to protect the environment, including waste management and waste minimization. We plan to continue that financial commitment. Over two hundred people at Tennessee Eastman are involved in full time environmental work. They monitor laws and regulations, obtain permits, operate monitoring and treatment facilities, and implement environmental projects. The next element of the Waste Minimization Policy provides for employee involvement. We believe that it is important that all employees be aware of the need for waste minimization. Everyone needs to be involved in identifying and implementing ways to reduce wastes. As I mentioned earlier, Eastman Chemical Company is managed by teamwork. Waste minimization is a priority with the teams. Both natural unit teams and cross-functional teams identify and 6 implement waste minimization projects. Teams also celebrate successes in waste minimization. Another element of the Waste Minimization Policy is to recognize successes and creative solutions. This is done in several ways. Significant team projects are recognized through a special publication called Success Stories. These are distributed to teams throughout the plant. All waste minimization projects are reviewed at the presidential level. Projects that meet the predetermined criteria receive a President's Award. Waste Minimization projects may also be recognized in the company newspaper. A newsletter to our neighbors is published on a regular basis to keep them informed about things that are happening at the plant. It may also be used to highlight successful waste minimization projects, particularly those that are of concern to our neighbors. Eastman also publishes a bimonthly newsletter about the environment and Eastman Chemical Company's efforts to protect the environment and reduce wastes. I see my time is running out, so I won't cover the rest of the elements found in our policy. You do will find a copy of them in your handout. Although I have concentrated most of my remarks on Tennessee Eastman, our other Eastman Chemical Company divisions have similar programs with similar results. For instance, Texas Eastman recently won the Environmental Protection Agency's prestigious Administrator Award. In order to win this award, Texas Eastman had to demonstrate that they saved energy and prevented pollution while increasing production. In closing, I would like to summarize by saying that Eastman Chemical Company's approach to waste minimization is Total Quality Environmental Management. Guided by our Waste Minimization Policy, we have combined teamwork and the principles of Quality Management to develop a successful program of waste minimization. EASTMAN CHEMICAL COMPANY WASTE MINIMIZATION POLICY

VISION ECC is recognized by our employees, the community, the chemical industry, and regulatory agencies as a leader in waste minimization.

OBJECTIVE To minimize waste through source reduction, sale/reuse/recycle, reclamation and treatment.

WASTE DEFINITION Any material that must be recovered, treated, disposed of, or is discharged to the environment.

PRINCIPLES Accountability and responsibility rest with the waste generator. Performance is directed to meeting or exceeding current and anticipated regulations and public interests. The current level of waste can always be reduced. All wastes are minimized; however, special emphasis is given to RCRA hazardous wastes and SARA Section 313 chemicals. The hierarchy of waste minimization is: 1. Source reduction 2. Sale/reuse/recycle '. Reclamation 4. Treatment Land disposal and/or off-site treatment is minimized.

ELEMENTS Active management leadership and involvement are evident at all levels. Resources consistent with expectations are available and used to achieve waste minimization goals. All employees understand and are involved in waste minimization. Goals and action plans for waste minimization are included in every organization's annual planning process. Waste Management decision making is expanded to include all present and future costs and benefits. Successes and creative solutions are recognized and reinforced. \ Waste is measured at the point of generation and the point of discharge. Improvement in one media (land, water, or air) is not made at the expense of another. A compatible information system among ECC plant sites audits waste production and discharge and documents waste minimization. 4 common communication system shares capabilities within ECC and successes internally and cternally. Waste minimization projects should have environmental and/or cost benefits.

ECP 5959 (4-90)