A Cleaner Production Project in the South African Paper Industry – Lessons learnt

Iain Kerr, MSc (Env. Biotech.)

University of KwaZulu Natal, School of Chemical Engineering, South Africa.

Introduction

Cleaner production (CP) is a general term used to describe a preventative approach to industrial activity

It encompasses: waste minimisation, waste avoidance, and pollution prevention.

A lot of emphasis is placed on attitude change CP is an important approach to reducing

environmental impacts, and leading business and industry in the direction of sustainable development.

Scope of Cleaner Production

In Production Processes: conservation of raw materials and energy elimination of the use of toxic raw materials reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and

wastes before they leave a process

In Products : reducing negative impacts along the life cycle of a product,

from raw material extraction to its ultimate disposal In Services : incorporation of environmental concerns in the design and

delivery of services.

Techniques of Cleaner Production

ApproachTable 1: The Six Stages of Cleaner Production

Implementation(UNEP,1998)Stage

Number

Stage Description

Activities

1 Planning and organization

Gaining commitment, selection of teams, identification of barriers and drivers and determining the scope to save.

2 Pre-assessment

Collection of overall information for the site, development of process maps, identification of focus areas, and determination of missing information.

3 Detailed assessment

Collection of data on focus areas, mass balancing, monitoring and targeting.

4 Identification of opportunities

Determining options for improvement based on gathered data.

5 Feasibility analysis

Determining which options are feasible on a technical, economic and environmental basis.

6 Implementation

Planning to implement feasible options and setting monitoring system in place.

Approach continued.. Employees were given training in each of the stages  The planning and organizing stage (Stage 1) involved

selecting teams, once management commitment had been given. The teams went through the process of identifying barriers and

drivers as well as determining scope to save.  The pre-assessment stage involved

obtaining an overview of the operations of the site; preparation of process maps; identification of sources of waste and obtaining an indication of the

true cost of waste. The outcome of the pre-assessment stage is a selection of

focus areas for further in-depth analysis based on either cost, potential to save, or environmental implications.

The waste cost iceberg showing the hidden costs of waste (Enviroserv, 2000)

DisposalCosts

DisposalCosts

Raw-material costs

Energy costs

Lost profit

Labour costs

Management time

Company image

Capital depreciationClean-up costs

Storage

Transport costs

Packaging losses

Water costs

Rework

Scoping Audit TableResources & Services Quantity Units Cost/year Priority Scope

(1=Highest) to Save Scope Scope

Raw Materials Quantity Units R % R(min) R(max)

First most used 1 to 5

Second most used 1 to 5

Third most used 1 to 5

Other Materials

Sales Packaging 10 to 90

Solvent 5 to 20

Detergent 5 to 20

Bleach 5 to 20

Consumables

10 to 30

Energy

Electricity 5 to 20

Heat 10 to 30

Water 20 to 80

Effluent 20 to 80

Soild waste total & drum disposal 10 to 50

TOTAL

Scoping Audit (Stage 2)

The pre-assessment phase scoping audit (Stage 2)

undertaken at the mill identified packaging as the

area with the highest cost saving potential

The savings potential was in excess of R50 million per

annum.

A Pareto diagram was used to identify which

packaging raw materials were the highest cost items

for the finishing house

Finishing House Operations

Reel Wrapping

Finishing House Packaging Material Pareto

0 2500 5000 7500 10000 12500 15000 17500 20000 22500

Ream Wrapping

Box/Base

Lids

Cores

Pallets

Reel Wrapping

Roundels

Baleboards

Strapping

Plastic Sheeting

Glue/Adhesives

Chipboard

Finishing House OperationsSlitting.

Finishing House OperationsReel Wrapping

Finishing House OperationsSheeting

Finishing House OperationsReam Wrapping

Live Audit(Detailed assessment - Stage 3)

The scoping audit identified inputs in the finishing house

such as boxes, lids, pallets, cores, glue, and reel wrap as

areas for potential waste reduction and significant savings

A live audit was thereafter conducted at the finishing house

The audit took place when the finishing house was

operating under normal conditions

The audit protocol was determined in consultation with the

finishing house manager and staff employed in that section

Audit Protocol

Line no. INPUTS Tons/day1 Total Reels / Production from Rewinders 1 5

2 Polycoated Wrapping used 2 4

3 Roundels used 3

4 Total 0 6

Line no. OUTPUTS Tons/day5 Completely wrapped Reels to Despatch 7

6 Partially wrapped Reels to Converting7 Waste 0

Line no. INPUTS Tons/day8 Partially wrapped Reels used for Folio size 9

8

Line no. OUTPUTS Tons/day 10

9 Cut sheets for Bulk Product Section10 Cut sheets for Bielomatik Wrapping Section11 White waste (incl. Trim to balers) 11 12

12 Non-White Waste

Line no. INPUTS Tons/day 13

13 Cut sheets from Valmet 14 16

14 A3 Wrapping 15

15 Glue/Adhesive 16

16 PelletsLine no. OUTPUTS Tons/day

17 Wrapped & Stacked reams to plastic wrapping 18 19

18 White waste19 Non-White Waste

Line no. INPUTS Tons/day 19

19 Wrapped & Stacked reams 20 22

20 Plastic Wrapping 21

21 BaleboardsLine no. OUTPUTS Tons/day 23

22 Finished Product to Despatch23 Plastic Waste

Enstra Finishing House Audit Sheet - Reel Wrap and Folio Line

Plastic Wrapping Section for Folio Size

Reel Wrapping Section

Folio Cutting Section (Valmet)

Bielomatik Wrapping Section

Reel Wrapping Section

Up-ender

Converting

Despatch

Waste

Folio cutting Section(Valmet)

Bulk Product

Bielomatik

WhiteWaste

Non-whiteWaste

Bielomatik Wrapping Section

WhiteWaste

Non-whiteWaste

Wrapped & Stacked reams to plastic

wrapping Section

Plastic Wrapping Section

PlasticWaste

Finished Product to Despatch

Live Audit continued... Waste bins were placed at the various sections of the finishing plant to

collect all the waste generated at specific points

The bins were clearly marked and weighed in order to ascertain the

wastage quantity in that category

Damaged pallets were stacked separately and quantified

Glue wastage was calculated by weighing samples of ream wrapping,

lids and bases with and without glue

The total amount of waste generated over this period was determined

and converted into financial terms by taking into account the cost of the

raw material and the cost of added value

Results It became clear from the live audit that the area on which to focus

the teams efforts was the “last on core” (or slab), the cores and

the ream and reel wrappers

Slab is the paper product that remains behind on the reel after the reel has

been unwound for converting into final product

The total cost of waste for these materials was almost R18 million

rand per annum

Some of these wastes such as slab are recycled internally and

this waste stream made up 69% of the major waste streams

identified at the finishing house .

Results continued...Waste Stream % Contribution to

Cost of Waste

‘Last on core’ or slab 69.3%

Cores 12.6%.

Ream wrapping 8.7%

Reel wrapping 6.2%

Lids, bases, pallets and glue 3.2%.

Conclusions When considering solid waste generated by a factory, the obvious

data to look at initially is the volume of solid waste that leaves the factory site, for disposal

Internal recycle streams such as the slab (or broke), which is repulped and reconverted into paper product on the paper machine, was the most significant waste stream

This waste is not accounted for in solid waste records This internal recycle results in additional energy, water and raw

material inputs which all contribute to the real cost of waste. In this case, this amounted to some R13 million per annum. Only by conducting a live audit at the finishing house was this fact

highlighted

Any questions?

Thank you for your attention.

Iain Kerr, MSc (Env. Biotech.) University of KwaZulu Natal, School of Chemical Engineering, South Africa.