| Source
newsletter summer 1998 |
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Reusing Contaminated Raw Materials
Gophers Don't Care If
It's Maroon or Gold
Valley Design, a powder coating job shop
in Fountain, Minnesota, reclaims waste powder coating for
reuse. It's common in the industry to reclaim uncontaminated
powder that misses the parts being coated. But, Valley Design
is reusing contaminated powder—powder that becomes mixed
with one or many other colors after spraying.
When Valley Designs thinks that one of their
customers cares primarily about the durability of their coating
and not so much about the color, they ask the customer if
they'd like to save money on their coating job. If a customer
is willing to use the mixed-color powder on their parts, they
are not charged for the cost of the coating.
"We coat gopher traps for a local manufacturer,"
said Al Strange, systems supervisor for Valley Design. "The
coating needs to be durable and the gophers don't care what
color the traps are. We don't charge the customer for the
powder which saves them money." And, Valley Design saves
money through reduced landfill costs.
If you have a product being powder coated,
ask yourself how important is the color of your product. If
it's not a main criteria, ask your powder coater to reuse
mixed-color or "sprayed to waste" powder on your
parts.
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