Carestream Reduces Energy Consumption, Boosts Recycling Efforts At Oregon and Colorado Manufacturing Facilities
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 9 — Carestream Health reduced energy consumption and enhanced recycling at its facilities in Oregon and Colorado as part of an ongoing effort to trim its environmental footprint.
“We continuously examine our manufacturing processes and product components to identify areas where we can help protect the environment,” said Cavan Kelsey, Carestream’s Corporate Environmental Health and Safety & Sustainability Director. “Our aim is to continue to reduce energy use despite the addition of new processing and production machines at both sites.”
Carestream invested in new energy-efficient motors, LED lighting and other equipment to achieve a 3.66 percent reduction in energy costs over the last two years at its plant in White City, Ore, while production held constant and the site expanded its contract manufacturing capabilities. The Oregon plant’s progressive efforts saved enough energy in the last year to power 1,829 U.S. homes for a month, based on an average consumption of 911 kilowatt hours a month as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Energy consumption reductions in the manufacturing facility also eliminated over 16.3 million cubic feet of carbon dioxide, enough to fill approximately 80 blimps.
At Carestream’s plant in Windsor, Colo., employees recover and reuse up to 16 million pounds of radiographic film each year from manufacturing operations, which reduces consumption of raw materials and offers significant environmental benefits. The company’s intent is to expand its recycling effort to include an additional 5 million pounds of film a year.
Carestream also works to control hazardous waste from product manufacturing and maintenance activities. Both its Colorado and Oregon manufacturing plants capture solvents that can be reused or recovered and sold for other uses. The company further reduces the output of hazardous waste by trimming the use of silver, plastics and other components in its manufacturing processes.
Carestream is compliant with the ISO 14001:2004 standard and is updating its Environmental Management System to meet the new ISO 14001:2015 standard released late last year. The latest standard includes goals for sustainable resource use and climate change mitigation, as well as the incorporation of lifecycle thinking into product design.
The company also is creating product sustainability profiles to help communicate the societal value and environmental sensitivity of its innovative products like the Carestream Touch Prime and Touch Prime XE Ultrasound Systems. Sustainability profiles for imaging systems are available on the Carestream web site.
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