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2005 Award Winners

Smart people solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

These recipients of the Governor's Awards have responded to environmental challenges with innovative programs that demonstrate that environmental protection goes hand-in-hand with economic benefits.

Winners also illustrate the cooperative spirit that is integral to Minnesota's pollution prevention efforts. Through forging new partnerships with employees, government agencies and others, award recipients provide excellent case studies of successful efforts to bridge our state's environmental and economic goals.

• Hoffman Enclosures, Inc.
• Karges-Faulconbridge, Inc.
• Marvin Windows and Doors

  2005 Winners booklet (500Kb)

• Prestige Cleaning Center
• Schwan Food Company
• Shafer Electronics Company

Hoffman Enclosures, Inc.

Over a ten-year span, Hoffman Enclosures (Anoka), a manufacturer of electronic equipment enclosures, has instituted process modifications and material substitution by converting all but two liquid spray-coating systems to powder coating systems. The powder coating process uses no Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313 chemicals, emits no primary pollutants or hazardous air pollutants to the outdoors, and generates no hazardous waste. Unlike the liquid-spray booths, the powder-coating booths recycle filtered air back into the plant, requiring significantly less fuel to maintain a comfortable level of heating throughout the plant.

As a result of their pollution prevention efforts, Hoffman Enclosures:

• reduced hazardous raw material use by 814,000 pounds
• reduced non-hazardous raw materials by 103,000 pounds
• reduced energy use by 336 billion BTUs
• eliminated 112,000 pounds of hazardous waste
• eliminated 445,000 pounds of non-hazardous waste
• reduced air emissions by 340,000 pounds
• saves more than $1.5 million annually

Karges-Faulconbridge, Inc.

In 2002, Karges-Faulconbridge, Inc., a mechanical, electrical, and process and chemical engineering firm, purchased a vacant former grocery store building in Roseville. Originally built in 1972, this structure was transformed into a high-performance, energy-efficient building which serves as the company’s headquarters. It contains 34,500 square feet of office space, which is conditioned using a closed-loop groundsource heat pump system and displacement ventilation in the main office areas. Infrared heating and daylight harvesting also contribute to decreased energy use. A wide variety of recycled materials were used, including tires for rubber flooring, carpet, and asphalt. A portion of the site was also restored to a native habitat by decreasing the parking lot size, then planting prairie grasses and wildflowers.

The building transformation was accomplished using an integrated sustainable design process between Karges-Faulconbridge (mechanical and electrical design), Pope Associates (architectural design), and McGough Construction (general contractor). In November 2004, Karges Faulconbridge achieved a LEED-EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Building) Gold Certification for its headquarters—the first gold-certified building in Minnesota.

The building, which serves as a model for others, has resulted in saving 0.889 acres in land use; reducing water use by 48,530 gallons, energy by 400,773,736 BTUs, and air emissions of CO2 by 112,570 pounds, SO2 by 238 pounds, NOx by 226 pounds, and mercury by 590 pounds. Water pollutants were avoided by removal of 86 percent of suspended solids, 33 percent of total phosphate, and a 17 percent decrease in imperviousness. The total annual cost savings, resulting primarily from decreased use of energy, is $23,660.

Marvin Windows and Doors

Marvin Windows and Doors (Warroad) focused its pollution prevention efforts on replacing adhesives and coatings with more environmentally friendly alternatives, to reduce hazardous waste and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and to eliminate the use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

By substituting a water-based alternative for traditional adhesives, the company has eliminated 4,000 pounds of hazardous air pollutants and 3,100 pounds of VOCs annually. As a result of the new adhesive and application system, the amount of adhesive needed and therefore used was reduced by 74 percent or nearly 5,000 pounds, resulting in annual cost savings of $22,000 in material costs. In addition, hazardous waste was eliminated, resulting in a decrease of 1,000 pounds of hazardous material waste, saving Marvin Windows and Doors more than $850 in waste management costs. Payback on this project was immediate.

By partnering with Marvin’s supplier, the company was able to reformulate and develop new HAP-free coating products that met environmental goals while also meeting the company’s high standards of quality. The reformulated coatings resulted in a reduction of 700 pounds of HAPs per year, saving the company $600 annually.

Other environmental efforts at the company include installation of a carbon absorption system to reclaim the solvent used in a wood treatment system. This system allows the company to save $326,000 per year and decrease VOC emissions by 79 percent. A magazine recycling program has prevented over 60 tons of paper from going to the solid waste stream since it was initiated in 2001.

Prestige Cleaning Center

In 2001, the Prestige Cleaning Center (Minneapolis) helped introduce environmentally friendly dry cleaning to Minnesota by eliminating the use of perchlorethylene (PERC), which is listed as a hazardous air pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act. At that time, Prestige installed a new GreenEarth dry-cleaning machine that uses an odor-free, nontoxic, environmentally safe solution (siloxane D5). Payback on this equipment occurred ahead of projections due to an increase in customers who appreciated their garments coming back clean without dry-cleaning odors (perchloroethylene emissions).

Building upon this success, the company borrowed technology from the food and beverage industry to research and implement an alternative, less expensive filtering system for the new equipment, making conversion even more attractive. As a result of these pollution prevention efforts, hazardous materials use has been reduced by 800 pounds per year, hazardous waste by 2,000 pounds, and solid waste of 300 pounds per year, for a total annual cost savings of $4,900.

As the first drycleaner in the United States to use this combination of equipment and filtration, the company has been instrumental in convincing other dry-cleaning centers to change to this type of alternative solution, benefiting the environment and public health.

Schwan Food Company

The Schwan Food Company, headquartered in Marshall, is one of the largest, branded frozen-food companies in the United States and the second-largest privately held corporation in Minnesota. To reduce phosphorous levels in the wastewater discharge at its manufacturing facilities in Marshall, Schwan’s partnered with its cleaning chemical supplier, Anderson Chemical Company (Litchfield, Minn.) to formulate a phosphorous-free cleaning material. By doing so, the company is helping the city of Marshall meet new, stringent phosphorous discharge limits.

The cleaning chemical system was tested on actual production equipment with detailed oversight by corporate microbiologists for a two-month period before being adopted as the standard sanitation operating procedure for this plant. The new system shows improved cleaning and sanitation performance at no net increase in combined chemical and labor cost. By using alternate materials for clean-in-place sanitation of production equipment, the Schwan Food Company has reduced phosphorous in wastewater from its Marshall ice cream manufacturing operation by 74 percent, for annual phosphorus emission reduction of 11,000 pounds. “This project was an exceptional effort in which a Schwan team partnered with the city of Marshall and our chemical supplier to accomplish phosphorous reductions that benefit our company, Marshall, and Minnesota,” said Steve Ascher, Schwan’s environmental compliance manager. Schwan’s is currently investigating further potential reductions in its wastewater phosphorous levels using conventional source reduction techniques.

Shafer Electronics Company

Shafer Electronics (Shafer, Minn.), an electronics assembly company, is leading the way toward elimination of lead pollution from the electronic products industry. The company successfully implemented a lead-free manufacturing process for electronic printed circuit assemblies, eliminating the use of 228 pounds of lead (a persistent bioaccumulative toxin) used on over 30,000 circuit boards and the company's annual disposal of 104 pounds of lead waste.

The program benefits the environment, the state’s electronic industry, and demonstrates that use of non-lead solder and components in electronic assembly is cost-effective and viable. The project also demonstrates how other Minnesota companies can successfully comply with the European Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive (RoHS, effective July 2006) to enable continued export of electronic products to the European community. By complying with the RoHS directive to eliminate the use and release of lead, Minnesota’s electronics industry can gain a distinct competitive advantage and create jobs.