Green Ventures

At Mold-Rite Plastics, LLC we continue to take part in reducing our carbon footprint on the environment. We have recently begun updating our existing lighting system with more energy efficient sources.

Power Supply
100% of our power is supplied by means of Hydro-electric generation and is completely renewable.

Scrap Reduction
We have purchased and designed equipment for many of our injection molding machines that grind and redirect excess material back into the production line. This creates virtually zero waste on these machines. We have built runner less molds to reduce the amount of scrap material produced off production runs.

Heat Reclamation
Mold-Rite has teamed up with Clarkson University and Independent Energy Efficiency Program, Inc. (IEEP) on a project that we hope will be able to direct the waste heat produced during manufacturing processes to other areas of our facility and possibly to a neighboring company. If we can’t reuse it, why not share with someone who can.

Waste Reclamation
Over the past several years we have sold our regrind for use in secondary plastic markets. Through continuous improvements we are reducing the percentage of regrind sold to outside sources tremendously. Reducing the amount of regrind has enabled us to reduce the amount of trash that goes to landfills from 80 tons per month in 2004 to about 40 tons per month in 2010. 100% of our plastic waste is sold to recyclers.

Lighting project
We have upgraded our lighting fixtures throughout the facility. In the past we used the Metal Halide fixtures and are replacing them with Energy Efficient High Output T5 Fluorescent fixtures. This small change has brought upon big environmental benefits. The benefits are clear when we compare the Metal Halide bulbs with the High Output T5 Fluorescent fixtures.

Comparison of the Fixtures

Metal Halide Bulbs Consumes 460 watts Over time brightness diminishes by about 30% Bulb life about 20,000 hours Gives off excessive amount of heat Estimated 4 minute warm up Prior to project start 111 fixtures

High Output T5 Fluorescent Bulbs Consumes 350 watts Over time brightness diminishes by about 5% Bulb life about 35,000 hours Operate at a lower temperature than MH bulbs No warm up time (instant on) Number of fixtures 75

We have also installed motion activated switches on the new lighting this will provide an added savings of power consumption.

Corrugated paper reduction
In the past we packaged several of our larger caps with a cardboard divider to alleviate warpage. We have upgraded our self packing machines to cool the product before it is packaged. In doing this we were able to reduce warpage and eliminate the use of the cardboard dividers.