Washington, D.C. — To celebrate Earth Day, U.S. Mint Director Philip N. Diehl today reported on the major environmental policy initiatives and practices underway at current Mint facilities, and plans for the new building the Mint is scheduled to occupy later this year.
“We are committed to being an exemplary corporate citizen and neighbor in every city where we operate,” said Diehl. “We’ve made the development of a comprehensive environmental management system a major priority of the Mint’s strategic plan for the future.”
“We’ve done a lot to improve energy efficiency and address environmental concerns at all Mint facilities, with annual energy audits at the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints savings hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs each year.”
“This year, an environmental initiative came from an unexpected source, the U.S. Mint Police. This year, the Mint Police will convert to the use of lead free training ammunition in the Mint’s indoor firing ranges, reducing worker safety risks and reducing hazardous waste generation.”
“This past summer we voluntarily completed an extensive environmental management review in San Francisco with the Environmental Protection Agency. We see this effort as a way to develop a template for the next generation of changes we undertake. And in November this year, the Mint will move into our new headquarters building,” said Diehl. “It is particularly fitting that we begin the century fully committed to responsible corporate and environmental citizenship, in a facility that is state–of–the–art from foundation to rooftop, incorporating a high tech energy management system, and utilizing floor tile made from recycled U.S. paper currency.”
Environmental and energy initiatives at Mint facilities include:
Philadelphia Mint
* Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC): Guaranteed savings of $218,000 annually in energy costs, reducing pollution associated with higher energy use; including replacement of two chillers with non–chloro–fluro–carbon (CFC) refrigerant units; lighting renovation throughout production, support and office areas; installation of water saving bathroom fixtures; improved operational efficiency of compressed air distribution system.
* Environmental Regulations Course for executives from all Mint sites; managers and operational employees participated in Environmental Resource Center’s training courses beyond regulatory requirements.
* Conversion during year 2000 to non–hazardous fluorescent lighting fixtures.
* Construction of Centralized Maintenance Facility underway, including state–of–the–art waste management area.
* Scheduled elimination of all melting of condemned, mutilated and uncurrent coin by year end 1999, eliminating 600–kiowatt electrical load and associated pollutants, yielding an estimated savings of $125,000.
Denver Mint
* Construction of a $240,000 wastewater treatment facility with doubled capacity; the recent sludge recirculation project resulting in a 50 percent reduction in sludge generation and $10,000 savings annually.
* Recycling nearly 6 million pounds of scrap metal from production and maintenance processes.
* In house redesign of water pipe system beyond regulatory requirements to enhance worker safety.
* Voluntary stack testing for annealing furnaces, revealing no hazardous pollutants emitted.
San Francisco Mint
* Realized annual savings of $24,000 by recycling waste water from annealing furnaces.
* Continued recycling all office paper, aluminum can, fluorescent tubes, ballast, bullets, waste oil, and scrap metal.
* Continued purchasing environmentally friendly equipment, such as the use of energy efficient motors in new machines.
West Point Mint
* Discontinued use of freon cleaning system, safe disposal of freon, and conversion to ultra–sonic system.
* Participation in enhanced paper recycling and fluorescent lighting tubes recycling programs in association with U.S. Military Academy.
* Participation in the Academy’s Community Disposal Day, encouraging safe disposal of aerosol cans, batteries paints and other toxic materials at a central location.