Corporate Environmental Policy
Lenoir Mirror Company – Corporate Environmental Policy
Environmental Policy Statement:
Lenoir Mirror Company will conduct its business in a socially conscious manner. We must recognize and make our decisions in the best interests of our five basic constituent groups: customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders and the local community. The local community includes the environment. We have a legal as well as an ethical obligation to adhere to environmental laws and regulations. We have an economic and moral obligation to use materials and resources wisely.
Environmental Perspective – Basic Processes:
Lenoir Mirror is a coater and fabricator of flat glass. The flat glass product is produced in a melting process using a number of natural ingredients – the primary one being silica. The formulation for flat glass includes 20% glass cullet. We capture all clear glass fall off, trim and broken material and return it to the flat glass manufacturer to be used in future production. No flat glass is wasted or deposited in landfills. The coating process involves the chemical wet deposition of a silver nitrate solution on the flat glass surface. Over spray from that application is captured and returned to our supplier for reclaim. The protective backing that is applied behind the reflective surface is processed through a recirculating curtain. There is a small amount of paint lost in the clean up process. It is disposed of through a licensed hazardous waste resource. Much of our product is fabricated. This involves grinding the glass. The by-product of the grinding process is a mixture of cerium and ground glass; we refer to it as sludge. The sludge is captured in tanks, dried and deposed of in the local landfill. Other general industrial waste – primarily packaging – is also disposed of in the local landfill. We collect all metal strapping and sell it. We collect all corrugated material, crush it and send it to a recycler. Paper from our office/administrative operations is collected and recycled. We monitor the amount of waste leaving our operations for spikes that might represent more waste disposal than necessary. We work with suppliers to develop returnable or reusable packaging. We have worked diligently since 1991 to identify and minimize waste. Lenoir Mirror ships the majority of its finished products on its trucks or its customers trucks. This enables us to recycle our own packaging. Most of our cut size mirror and glass products are shipped on wooden skids or pallets. We pay our customers to return them. We pay our drivers when they pick them up. Large stock sheet mirrors are shipped in wooden cases. We often return these empties and reuse them. The only packaging that leaves here and does not come back is corrugated cartons and wooden boxes that are shipped via common carrier. This is a minimal portion of the product shipped from here.
Environmental Regulatory Compliance:
Lenoir Mirror has a full time Safety and Environmental Manager, that maintains all safety and environmental regulations including, state and federal permit applications, permit renewals, notifications, training programs, sampling, monitoring and all other necessary environmental requirements. Lenoir Mirror includes each year in our business plan, to ensure that we maintain the highest level of safety and environmental standards for our business, customers and the community.
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