Benefits

How to Effectively Manage Your Solvent Waste (A Service365 Overview)

Managing your solvent waste can be a headache, but it doesn’t have to be. On-site solvent recycling has come a long way in the last few years and with CleanPlanet’s Service365, we have taken it a step further. Our comprehensive program can have you recycling on-site more efficiently than other methods while cutting down on your carbon footprint and labor costs. Our service model means you pay no capital upfront, translating into an instant savings in your bottom line.

Jordan Huffman
May 3, 2023

Are You At Risk From Hidden Costs

Your company is busy focusing on your primary market and driving productivity. The last thing you want to do is reallocate valuable resources and manpower to deal with the byproduct of your production – solvent waste. There are limits on how much you can store; it takes up valuable floor space and must be recycled or disposed of. Additionally, virgin make-up solvent must be purchased to replace the used solvent. Employees now have to safely handle and dispose of waste instead of focusing more on what matters most to your business.

The time and effort spent dealing with solvent waste ultimately detract from your bottom line and begins to cost your business. Considering all this, our experience has shown that the average company can lose $50,000 – $100,000 annually in savings. While these hidden costs could be chalked up to the cost of doing business, there are better ways to remove these costs from your business without having to spend capital. In addition, these hidden costs can also have an impact on your GHG emissions

Balancing Cost, Labor, and Emissions

Companies these days are working toward carbon neutrality as a better way to do business. This means minimizing waste products and promoting a circular economy. For those who are not recycling their waste at all, there are more environmentally minded options available such as: recycling your waste offsite, recycling onsite with a purchased solvent recycler, or recycling onsite with CleanPlanet’s solvent recycling service. While offsite solvent recycling is a much more environmentally sustainable practice than not recycling at all, it still requires a large amount of labor, coordination, and resources. In comparison, onsite solvent recycling is the least labor-intensive method for managing solvent waste while also providing the most benefit for your company and the environment.

Offsite vs. Onsite Solvent Recycling

You would be forgiven for thinking that onsite recycling is more laborious, costly, and requires too much management compared to offsite methods. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Recycling solvent waste onsite utilizes less labor compared to procuring virgin solvent as you no longer have to purchase, receive, and store virgin solvent in the same volume. Additionally, onsite solvent recycling ultimately means less waste is produced, which equates to a reduction in waste management fees as well. However, making a capital purchase for a solvent recycler can be costly and by the time you have gone through the whole process, the savings may not be as evident.

At CleanPlanet, we know these pitfalls too well and understand that these are the primary roadblocks that stop businesses from considering onsite solvent recycling as a viable alternative. If you are looking for more insight on what to avoid, consider checking out our blog, Purchasing a Solvent Recycler Is a Bad Idea.

The CleanPlanet Solution

In response to the lack of options on the market, we created a solution that addresses the significant capital investment that must be considered when looking at onsite solvent recycling, as well as the ongoing training and maintenance required to keep your machine up and running efficiently. Our goal was to create a system that avoids the downfalls of managing your own onsite solvent recycler while promoting greater adoption and ease of use in our target industries. The solution: CleanPlanet’s Service365 all-inclusive solvent recycling program with no capital investment.

CleanPlanet's Service 365

Service365 is a solvent recycling program designed to help companies reduce waste, lower costs, and improve environmental sustainability by recovering and reusing solvents that would otherwise be disposed of. With our answer to onsite solvent recycling, all the equipment and maintenance are handled by CleanPlanet Chemical, meaning you can save on capital expenditures and reduce your overall operating costs. The only cost you end up paying is the cost of the clean solvent that our machines produce. Service365 is designed to be flexible and can be customized to meet the specific needs of each customer.

Whether you work with solvent drums or totes, or have your waste stream directly plumbed, we can optimize our machines to work best with your parameters. This means that you get exactly what you need without paying for services that you don’t need. All of this sounds great in theory, but it would be meaningless without practical application. What does that look like? We have streamlined our Service365 process into a few steps so that you can see the impacts immediately: 1. qualification, 2. installation, 3. training and operation, 4. monitoring and optimization, and 5. maintenance and upgrades.

1. Qualification

If you are currently recycling onsite with a purchased solvent recycler, recycling offsite, or not recycling at all, improvements can still be made to your waste management system. We look directly at your processes and waste streams to identify how to best optimize your waste management strategies. Our Service365 program is flexible and offers a variety of tailored solutions to your size and type of business. We work with you to address your needs while avoiding extraneous services. Once we have identified a solution that meets your specifications, we will proceed with the installation.

2. Installation

Once qualified, we are ready to outfit your facilities. CleanPlanet’s specialized technicians will be on-hand for the installation and optimization of the solvent recycler as per your requirements. For this process, you will have an implementation manager guiding you through everything you need to use your equipment. Our technical team can help identify the ideal location to install the new solvent recycler in a space that will allow you to boost productivity.

We offer training and guidance to any number of staff that is needed for your day-to-day operations. Our team will then observe your staff operating the solvent recycler to ensure that they have a complete understanding of how to use the systems safely. We do not leave the facility until your staff are fully trained and the solvent recycler are up-to-date. If you have any personnel changes down the line, then we will train them too. Now, you are ready to begin safely operating your solvent recycler and produce your own virgin-like solvent.

3. Training & Operation

CleanPlanet solvent recyclers use our patented Precision Distillation technology. We have designed our line of AlwaysClean solvent recyclers to automatically convert solvent waste back into virgin-like solvents at a higher efficiency than other onsite solvent recyclers. CleanPlanet’s solvent recycling machines are the only units in the industry that actively measure and track your yield over time.

Facilities that start our solvent recycling program can typically expect to see a waste reduction between 80% to 95%. More solvent recovered and less waste equates to a better investment for your company. This virgin-like solvent can be readily used in place of newly purchased solvent. We only charge for the high-quality solvent our solvent recycling machines produce, which otherwise would have been disposed of or recycled offsite.

4. Monitoring and Optimization

Our Service365 customers can rest assured their machines are monitored 24/7. Our team of technicians and engineers use our MyCleanPlanet online tracking system to ensure that things are running at maximum efficiency. If our team spots an opportunity to improve your output, then we will optimize your solvent recycler accordingly. You can actively monitor the performance of your solvent recycler using the MyCleanPlanet web portal and, more importantly, how that affects your bottom line.

Our comprehensive reporting tools offer robust data capture to help you interface with your figures meaningfully. MyCleanPlanet tracks data like total savings, uptime, processed solvent, and recovered solvent while allowing you to easily export data for your own records. With an increased emphasis on being as green as possible, we also track greenhouse gas emissions and waste reduction so you can be mindful of your facilities’ impact.

5. Maintenance and Upgrades

Maintenance and repair are our responsibility. Our field engineers perform routine safety and maintenance visits, both preventative and otherwise, to ensure your solvent recycler operates at peak performance for years to come. During these visits, we may change oil, replace wear parts, clean, and optimize your system. If our sensors pick up any irregularities between visits, we will send out a technician promptly to service your solvent recycling machines. We manage all maintenance as a feature of Service365 at no additional fee to the client. As we develop new and more efficient technologies or as your company’s needs continue to grow and change, we will upgrade your solvent recycler for free.

See the Service365 Difference

Solvent recycling is not your number one priority, but it is ours – in fact, that’s all we do. With Service365, you can minimize hidden costs with solvent waste while maximizing your environmental sustainability. Let us handle the dirty work so you can focus on what drives your business. Solvent recycling machines may be a complex piece of equipment, but the process around it doesn’t have to be. We can help to demystify the realm of onsite solvent recycling and have you managing your own efforts more efficiently than ever.

The cost of labor and goods only continues to rise, while staff turnover rate is at an all-time high. We feel these pressures too, so that is why we understand how important it is to have strategies in place that help to mitigate these hidden costs where you can. If you want to find out more about our solvent recycling Service365 and how it can help to save you money, please contact us and start saving today.

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