Mt Angel Takes a Unique Approach to Eliminating Landfill Waste

2014 Center of Excellence Award winner Mt Angel coldfill bottling plant has a unique approach to eliminating landfilled waste. In 2011, Mt Angel landfilled about 14% of its waste, which was only 33 tons. This wasn't good enough for the team at Mt Angel, they were going for zero. In 2012, they landfilled only 14 tons. And in 2013, they did not landfill any trash. Only 10 tons that were disposed of using Waste to Energy recovery (one compactor load!) and they recycled almost 600 tons of material reaching their goal of zero.

How did they do it?

Al Fiedler, Plant Director and Josh Cisewski, Zerolandfill Lead, attribute this success to a mindset shift they have cultivated over the last several years. Josh elaborates on this, "We removed the trash cans and the employees would put them back the next day. So we removed them again... and again" until the mindset changed to recycling and there just weren't any trash cans. Instead, recycling containers were placed close to point of recyclable generation so that it was convenient to recycle.

Project Leader Shayne Kleinschmit used the Lean Six Sigma process to guide Mt Angel to the goal of zero waste. The Mt Angel team identified every waste that was generated in the plant, where each of these wastes were generated, and then made it convenient for the operators to recycle. The team worked with the recycling service provider to find recycling options for every waste. The service provider only wanted to recycle items that were easy, but to win Mt Angel's business, the provider had to take it all.

Each week, a semitrailer is loaded with recyclables in accordance with the recycling service provider's specifications. Banding is chipped to make it easier to load onto the trailer. Cardboard is baled but HDPE is not since the recycler for that material is located only 6 miles from the plant. Wood pallets are recycled with another local recycler to reduce transportation charges. Mt Angel even tried to compost lunch room waste but wasn't able to, so it is incinerated. So far, recycling revenue thru P5 2014 is up about $5000 and waste costs thru P5 are around $1600 - the lowest of all coldfill plants.

Congratulations Mt Angel!