Daikin Texas Technology Park is recognized with EPA's 2021 WasteWise National Award
Friday, January 28, 2022
Waller, TX (January 28, 2022) - Daikin Texas Technology Park is recognized with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2021 WasteWise National Award.
Complete with an office building, a manufacturing plant, a cafeteria, a wellness center, engineering labs, training dojos, and wastewater treatment plants, Daikin Texas Technology Park (DTTP) is much like a small city. DTTP receives an enormous amount of packaging material, which makes Daikin’s commitment to achieving zero waste to landfill even more critical.
In 2019, DTTP and Quietflex, a Daikin group company, implemented a returnable container system. The companies began packaging and delivering supplies in returnable metal containers. This project reduced 46.5 tons of wood pallets and 63 tons of cardboard in 2019, and 180 tons of wood pallets and 120 tons of cardboard in 2020.
Also in 2019, DTTP created four recycling technician positions to reduce contamination of its recycling streams, increase the volume of recyclables, and improve recycling rebates. Because of these employees, film plastics recycling increased from 0 to 100 tons in 2019 and DTTP recycled 174 tons of film plastic in 2020. DTTP’s waste management efforts saved $646,579 in 2019 and $599,735 in 2020.
DTTP’s most significant accomplishment in 2019 was expanding wood waste recycling. Historically, DTTP struggled to find a recycling vendor that could handle the volume of pallets it needs to recycle. Fortunately, DTTP identified two vendor partners who were able to help. Consequently, DTTP diverted 1,491 tons of wood waste from landfills, and in 2020, that total increased to 2,542 tons. The most significant accomplishment in 2020 was the 74 percent increase in plastic film recycling.
DTTP’s greatest challenge to recycling and waste diversion is contamination. To solve this, the company put tremendous effort into signage and employee communication. However, DTTP saw a greater reduction in contamination rates once it transitioned from recycling compactors to balers. The company has since become more intentional about container selection, policy development, and making the process easier for internal customers.
