DMMI’s Cindy Sutffin puts lunch trash into the slurry trough to be recycled by the pulper.

Reducing the volume of Styrofoam® and food scraps points to a pulp is a significant environmental achievement that DENSO Manufacturing Michigan (DMMI) made in 2004.

BY LOIS MATTHEWS

When DMMI began planning for a kitchen and Dining Center renovation, a great deal of thought went into an important worldwide DENSO goal: How to reduce landfill waste while continuing to protect the environment.

So was borne the idea of a pulper, a machine that would grind the food waste that was collected daily in large plastic bags. Approximately 20 bags were filled each shift, containing food scraps, plastic flatware, paper of all sorts, Styrofoam, aluminum foil, cardboard, plastic containers and packaging. These bags were then taken to the plant compactor before being transported to a landfill.

Fast-forward six months. DMMI associates were enjoying their transformed kitchen and dining area, and a new pulper was in operation. With the capacity to process a half-ton of matter per hour, it literally grinds the waste, reducing it by nearly 80 percent. The ground material fits easily into one plastic bag per shift, reducing the amount of trash DMMI sends to the landfill by several cubic feet each week.

The pulper operates like this: Waste enters the pulping tank along a trough. It is mixed with water, creating a slurry, or watery mixture of insoluble matter. The slurry consists of 5 percent solids and 95 percent water. It then goes to a water extractor that removes the water and discharges the semi-dry pulp into a bag. Another environmental bonanza is that the extracted water is recovered and recycled through the pulper.

Chris Reed, Corporate Services section leader, oversees DMMI’s Dining Center and kitchen. “The pulper has significantly decreased the amount of waste that is going to our compactor,” Reed said. “Any effort that we can make to improve our environment is a definite move in the right direction.”

As DMMI’s pulper pulverizes trash (Styrofoam, food, plastics and paper products), it also removes water and other liquids. The remaining pulp is compacted and put in a container. This recycling effort reduces the amount of trash DMMI sends to the landfill each week by several cubic feet.