Russell Laboratories has been nominated for an award by the Surface Engineering Association in recognition of its accomplishments in environmental management.
 

Russell Laboratories has enacted a range of initiatives over the last two years to manage its environmental impact. The company was using significant quantities of water for rinsing using free flow rinses that were being discharged to the sewer after effluent treatment. To tackle this poor use of resource efficiency Russell Laboratories started an initiative to tackle this. This has primarily been in the form of ion exchange technology where the water is continuously treated and recycled before cylinders become exhausted and require a regeneration. This was a key implementation of the company’s environmental policy to not only be environmentally sustainable as a company but to also prove that environmental investment can also result in cost savings through water reduction savings.
 

In line with the company’s strategy of achieving waste minimisation and recycling, where possible the company invested in an enclosed vapour degreasing system. This system is fitted with cooling coils so that the solvent condenses allowing it to be reused instead of evaporating and being released into the environment. The system is also fitted with a recycling unit that removes the oil sludge from the solvent allowing the solvent to be widely reused.