Department of Environment & Conservation
Jim Fyke, Commissioner

Specific Judging Considerations

To recognize businesses that have eliminated or reduced the generation of hazardous wastes

Overall impact to human health

Relationship between the environmental benefits and the associated economic benefits

2009 Winner of Hazardous Waste Reduction

Tennessee Galvanizing (Marion County)

In 2008, Tennessee Galvanizing invested $750,000 to specifically reduce their hazardous waste generation by 100 percent. Working with industry partners, they developed an onsite, closed-loop sulfuric acid recycling unit and a new machine to more completely utilize raw materials. The innovative mechanism behind this success is called “The Skim Machine.” It was designed and built by Tennessee Galvanizing and is the first of its kind. A patent was not secured on this machine, because the company wants to help other galvanizing companies achieve the same success in hazardous waste reduction. In fact, the company also hosted 15 other galvanizers from around the country at the Jasper plant in 2008 to demonstrate their self-contained system. This completely self-contained system now produces more than 1.5 million pounds of ferrous sulfate annually, which in turn is sold for use in livestock feed or fertilizer.

Annual environmental benefits of this new resource recovery and recycling process include elimination of 2,300 tons of hazardous waste in the form of spent sulfuric acid; elimination of 82.5 tons of hazardous waste in the form of spent sodium hydroxide solution; reduced “virgin” sulfuric acid use by 228 tons annually; water consumption reduced by 315,000 gallons annually; natural gas consumption reduced by 20 percent via boiler replacement with tank heaters; and the elimination of more than 100 trucks from the road that were no longer needed to haul spent acid offsite as a hazardous waste.