SABIC Mt Vernon plant bags sustainability award

SABIC was also honored by the NPPR with a Most Valuable Pollution Prevention award for its advancement of a new compound for cleaning extruding equipment, a time-consuming and resource-heavy process that manufacturers must complete each time a different type of plastic pellets is produced. The subject of two US patent applications, the new purge compound has led to a number of environmental and operational benefits, including:

-Reducing the amount of time to clean and set up the equipment when switching from one product to another by up to 85% (compared to a 2012 baseline).

- Reducing electricity usage by 90,750 kWh annually, equivalent to powering eight houses a year (compared to a 2012 baseline).

- Reducing annual GHG emissions by 56.6 tons, equivalent to keeping 43 passenger vehicles off the road annually (compared to a 2012 baseline).

The NPPR is the largest membership organization in the United States devoted solely to pollution prevention and provides a national forum for promoting the development, implementation, and evaluation of efforts to avoid, eliminate or reduce pollution at the source.

The awards are designed to recognize outstanding and innovative pollution prevention project and programs. The awards are judged on the following five broad criteria: innovation, measurable results, transferability, commitment, and optimization of available project resources.

The successful implementation of these innovative processes at the Mt. Vernon, Ind. site is an example of SABIC’s efforts to drive industry-leading environmental performance in its operations and its products. SABIC is now working to share these new technologies with its facilities around the world.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC)