Water Management Examples
3M Spain Reduces the Water Used to Produce Scotch Brite Scourers
In 2007, 3M’s Rivas, Spain facility implemented a project to reuse the wastewater from cleaning the facility’s manufacturing equipment in the production of Scotch Brite Scourers. Using Six Sigma analysis, the facility installed new equipment and modified its Scotch Brite Scourer production process to allow the facility to put its cleaning waste water to good use.
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3M Brazil Reduces Water Use and Waste Water through Reverse Osmosis
In 2007, a team from 3M Brazil's Sumaré facility was awarded a Chairman's EHS Leadership Award for their project to reduce water use by nearly 16 million gallons a year. Access to clean water is a major issue for the Sumaré facility. The underground geology of the region makes well water both scarce and expensive. The facility was previously using water from a nearby lake, but the high water demand in the region has led to significant reductions in the lake's water level making it an unsustainable resource. The reverse osmosis system, along with changes to the facility's boiler water treatment regime, allows the plant to reuse approximately 5,000 cubic meters of its waste water each month reducing its water use and saving nearly $200,000 annually.
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3M India Installs System to Convert Wastewater to an Irrigation Source
3M India's Bangalore facility recently installed a new wastewater treatment system. The Bangalore facility now treats its wastewater on-site and uses the sanitized water to irrigate its grounds, as opposed to sending its wastewater offsite for treatment. The new treatment plant reduces the facility's water use by 1,500,000 gallons per year and is expected to reduce the facility's water costs by 50%.
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3M France Targets Water Reduction through Building Upgrades
In 2005, 3M France's Cergy facility completed a series of projects to reduce its water use. After performing an analysis of the facility's water use, a pollution prevention team implemented several improvements, including upgrading the building's sanitary hot water pumps, removing unnecessary equipment, and changing the operation of the building's humidifiers so that they are not utilized when heating is not needed. Together, these building process improvements reduced water use by over 600,000 gallons annually.
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Optimizing the Carbon Process in the Production of Respirators Prevents Water Pollution
3M's Brockville, Canada, facility manufactures respirators. Respirators
contain carbon that is treated to enhance its ability to draw contaminants from
the air. By optimizing and reformulating the materials during the carbon
process, the facility improved the quality and yield of the respirators it
produces, reduced its chemical waste and reduced the raw material necessary to
produce each respirator. This project prevented 132,000 gallons of wastewater
and saved $271,000 in the first year alone.
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