NAPERVILLE, Ill., April 15, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nalco (NYSE:NLC), providing essential expertise for water, energy and air, announced today that its Ellwood City Plant has been named a winner of a 2009 Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence. It was the second time in three years the facility was acknowledged for its environmental efforts.
The plant was recognized for three continuous improvement projects that have reduced its environmental impact:
* A plant-wide, focused waste reduction effort identified seven
actions that reduced plant waste by 3.74 million pounds.
* An engineering redesign of the cooling system for the plant's
most energy intensive process reduced peak electrical usage by
375,000-kilowatt hours per year. The change saves 228.4 metric
tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year, a 2 percent reduction
in facility's total greenhouse gas emissions.
* A cross-functional employee team identified opportunities to
rework inventory, eliminating nearly 150,000 pounds of waste.
"Nalco is committed to helping our customers operate more efficiently, saving water and energy and improving air quality while also reducing their total cost of operations. We follow those same principles in our own operations as well, constantly looking for opportunities to improve our processes and reduce water and energy use, cut waste and decrease air emissions, including greenhouse gases," said Dave Flitman, Nalco Executive Vice President and President, Water and Process Services.
Nalco was one of 15 businesses and organizations recognized for by the state for adopting "environmentally friendly practices and technologies."
About Nalco
Nalco is the world's leading water treatment and process improvement company, delivering significant environmental, social and economic performance benefits to our customers. We help our customers reduce energy, water and other natural resource consumption, enhance air quality, minimize environmental releases and improve productivity and end products while boosting the bottom line. Together our comprehensive solutions contribute to the sustainable development of customer operations. Nalco is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. More than 11,500 Nalco employees operate in 130 countries supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centers to serve a broad range of end markets. In 2008, Nalco achieved sales of more than $4.2 billion. For more information visit www.nalco.com.
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