Hazardous Waste Reduction
Specific Judging Considerations
- To recognize businesses that have eliminated or reduced the generation of hazardous wastes
- Overall impact to human health
- Relationship between the environmental benefits and the associated economic benefits
2007 Winner of Hazardous Waste Reduction
Winner –
Pull-A-Part Nashville: A Part of the Solution (Davidson County)
Pull-A-Part provides an innovation “green” approach for used auto parts retail sales and recycling, which creates a “win/win” for the Nashville community. Pull-A-Part removes, resells and recycles 1,000-2,000 cars each month, properly managing hazardous materials and eliminating the potential for automotive fluids to pollute waterways and ground water. Pull-A-Part partners with End-of-Life Vehicles Solutions to remove mercury switches in end-of-life vehicles. Their efforts have reduced the amount of waste generated in the recycling process by 120 pounds for each net ton of cars, prevents 1.5 million pounds of waste from entering Tennessee landfills, recycles 1,000 tons of steel each month, and has calculated that it saves enough energy to light over 2,166,667 60-watt light bulbs for over 26 hours. The facility also recycles approximately 50,000 gallons of oil, gasoline, brake fluid, transmission fluid, Freon, antifreeze and thousands of lead-acid batteries each year.
