In SunDance’s effort to be environmental champions we are constantly on the lookout for more sustainable ways to utilize or dispose of the byproducts from our print processes. While we use sustainable practices in the plant to conserve resources and recycle waste as much as possible there are just some items such as wooden skids and polymers that are problematic. Fortunately, we have found a partner that can utilize some of our wastes in the manufacture of fuel cubes that create a new product from our unwanted and unusable high-energy materials.
NuCycle Energy, a Plant City Florida based company, provides a sustainable alternative to landfilling waste by converting clean, pre-consumer, non-recyclable and low-market value paper and polymer materials into highly engineered Enviro-FuelCubes® (EFCs). The simple burning EFCs are engineered to be a coal substitute. They are low moisture, have very low sulphur content, and have a high heating value very similar to coal. NuCycle’s EFCs are presently used mainly in the cement production industry and greatly reduce a cement plant’s need to burn coal, heavy oil, or other fossil fuels.
When SunDance looks for waste solutions we consider a variety of factors. In NuCycle’s case they are local to our plant, we are able to drive waste to them instead of the landfill so we are positive where it goes. The cement production facility that uses the EFCs is located close to NuCycle therefore the finished EFCs only need to make a short trip from manufacture to the end user reducing transportation needs. Additionally, when burned, EFCs have about 3% residual ash, the cement industry adds this residual ash into the cement product itself, there is literally almost nothing left over.
Of course we asked….how does NuCylce make a fuel cube? Waste material sent to NuCycle is sorted into like type materials because some materials burn hotter than others. The sorted materials are blended into a combination that will approximate the BTU output of coal (approximately 10,000 BTUs). The mixture is shredded down into a manageable size, heat compacted, and extruded into candy bar sized Enviro-FuelCubes.
SunDance’s mission is to provide quality print products in an eco-friendly manner. Every ton of material SunDance is able to divert to NuCycle equals a ton of waste diverted from a landfill and one less ton of coal that needs to be mined and burned. In SunDance’s initial trip we were able to provide NuCyle over 3 tons of material! We still have some work to do, not all materials are suitable for EFCs and we are refining our sorting and collection processes. In the future we hope to divert more materials from being landfilled to do our part in keeping our environment a better place for future generations.
Call us at 407-734-7444 to learn more!
