TRI Pollution Prevention Report for AMERICAN ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS and Mercury

Facility ID: 46515HRMSL1101L

Facility Name and Address:
AMERICAN ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
1101 LAFAYETTE ST
ELKHART, IN 46516

Parent Company: NA

Industry: Relay and Industrial Control Manufacturing (335314)
Chemical: Mercury

Production Related Waste Management for Selected Chemical

lchemid=0007439976

Waste Management Comparison - 2023

Pollution Prevention Activities for Selected Chemical

Reporting Year	Section 8.10: Newly Implemented Source Reduction Activity	Section 8.10: Methods to Identify Activity	Section 8.11: Optional Pollution Prevention Information*
2022	Source Reduction:: S14: Other product modifications made[-15-24%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	S14: The company has an on-going program of offering non-mercury containing devices as a substitute to its manufactured mercury containing devices. Source Reduction - When feasible, the Sale's Dept. suggests the use of non-mercury containing products to its customers.
2021	Source Reduction:: S14: Other product modifications made[-15-24%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	S14: The company offers alternative products that do not contain mercury. Source Reduction - Whenever possible, the sale's team recommends to customers, products that do not contain mercury. Other Environmental Practices: Waste Treatment - with the reduction in sales of products containing mercury, the amount of waste water requiring pre-treatment prior to being discharged to the local public wastewater utility has decreased.
2020	Source Reduction:: W82: Modified design or composition of product[-5-14%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	W82: Manufacturing of electrical switching devices containing mercury is being replaced by offering non-mercury switching devices to our customers, who are often slow at accepting changes. Other Environmental Practices: Recycling - The company accepts spent mercury containing products for recycling under Universal Waste rules. Source Reduction: Source Reduction - The company offers alternative electrical switching products that do not contain mercury.
2019	Source Reduction:: W82: Modified design or composition of product[-15-24%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management Barriers: B7-Barriers to P2 B7 - No known substitutes or alternative technologies.	Barriers to P2: B7 - No known substitutes or alternative technologies. - The company is a manufacture of mercury containing electrical relays and switches. Presently there is no substitute for the required elemental mercury.
2018	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials[-15-24%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management
2017	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials[-15-24%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	W42: Elemental mercury used in mercury tilt switches has been substituted in some models with a metallic ball. Source Reduction - Upper level management and engineering are concerned about the environment and have taken steps to replace mercury with other materials. Other Environmental Practices: Recycling - AEC is a collection facility for manufactured devices containing mercury under "Universal Waste Rules". These collected devices are then sent to a TSD for recovering the mercury.
2016	Source Reduction:: W89: Other product modifications[-0-4%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	W89: Elemental mercury has been replaced with metal balls in some products for the electrical current conducting media. Other electrical switching devices have been added to the company's product line that do not contain mercury. Source Reduction: Source Reduction - See entry in Part II, Section 8.10. Other Environmental Practices: Recycling - We allow customers to return spent devices containing mercury under "Universal Waste Rules". We then manifest them to a licensed TSD recycling center after a quantity is collected.
2015	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials[-5-14%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	W42: Elemental mercury has been replaced by non-hazardous metals. Source Reduction - Elemental Mercury has been replaced with non-hazardous metals in some products. Source Reduction: Source Reduction - AEC offers a larger selection of non-mercury products to replace mercury containing products. Other Environmental Practices: Recycling - AEC accepts mercury containing devices under IDEM's Universal Waste Rules to facilitate the proper disposition of mercury. This service is extended beyond its own customer base and product lines.
2014	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials[-5-14%]	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management	Other Environmental Practices: General Environmental Management - The company's written Environmental Policy states that within it's operations, it will continuously reduce, reuse and recycle resources. Other Environmental Practices: Recycling - The company accepts spent mercury containing devices for ensuring their proper disposal. The devices are properly shipped to an authorized recycling center. Source Reduction: Source Reduction - The company continues to offer mercury free products to replace "mercury containing" products. This effort is gaining ground as many of our customers are wanting to help create a greener environment as well.
2013	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials Source Reduction:: W82: Modified design or composition of product	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other	W42: The company has expanded its line of product offerings that use environmentally friendly components.
2012	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials Source Reduction:: W82: Modified design or composition of product	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other	Source Reduction - Offered for sale to our customers products manufactured with environmentally friendly materials.
2011	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other	Source Reduction - Mercury presently used as a current carrying contact in electrical switches is being replaced with a metallic ball. Some mercury relay models are being phased out and replaced with metallic contact relays.
2010	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other
2009	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other
2008	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials Source Reduction:: W82: Modified design or composition of product	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T11: Other	Other Environmental Practices - AEC's Company Management, through Engineering, is continuously pursuing the developement of new products which exclude the use of elemental mercury.
2006	Source Reduction:: W42: Substituted raw materials	Methods to Identify SR Opportunities: T04: Participative team management

*Classifications of Optional Pollution Prevention Information shown in brackets are provided by EPA.

TRI Pollution Prevention Glossary

The Waste Management Hierarchy

The waste management hierarchy established by the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) guides waste generators toward the best options for managing wastes. The preferred option is to prevent pollution at its source, but for waste that is generated, the preferred management methods are recycling, followed by burning for energy recovery, treatment and, as a last resort, disposing of the waste.

Source Reduction includes activities that eliminate or reduce the generation of chemical waste.
Recycling includes the recovery of a toxic chemical in waste for reuse.
Energy Recovery includes the combustion of toxic chemicals in waste to generate heat or electricity.
Treatment includes the destruction of a toxic chemical in waste.
Disposal or Other Releases includes toxic chemical quantities entering the environment.

The PPA requires facilities to provide the following details about each chemical they report to TRI:

A breakdown of production-related waste managed. This includes all amounts of the chemical released directly to the environment or otherwise managed as waste, other than waste generated by one-time events not associated with normal production processes (e.g., fires or remedial actions).
A production ratio or activity index to provide context for reported toxic chemical quantities. For example, if a chemical is used in the manufacture of refrigerators, the production index would track the number of refrigerators produced and could be used to help gauge how much of the chemical is being released per unit of production.
Any newly implemented source reduction activities, reported using "W-codes" (e.g., "W41: Increased purity of raw materials")

Facilities may also provide optional Pollution Prevention Information describing their source reduction, recycling, or pollution control activities.