Lincoln Industries

The manufacturing industry is wonderful because it enriches us with the things that make it easier for us to work and enjoy our lives. What is often taken for granted is the environmental cost of producing these items. As a manufacturer, this is a cost that we work to minimize. The large investment we’ve made in our Environmental Department is a testament to that commitment. Through the recycling programs developed by this department, we’ve recycled almost two million pounds of materials each of the last two years, from nickel and scrap iron to plastic and office paper.

Not included in these numbers are the vast amount of sludge we recycle, a byproduct of our process that otherwise ends up in landfills and pollutes our environment. As one of the first manufacturing companies to recycle materials other than metal (such as sludge), we’ve instituted a program that turns our waste into a renewable resource. In this program, the waste water that contains small amounts of lost nickel is converted into sludge and sent back to a smelter. The smelter isolates the nickel and extracts it, creating quality nickel that we buy back and use in our processes. Over 40,000 pounds of nickel and 750,000 pounds of sludge have been recycled in this way each year.

In addition to recycling initiatives like these, we’ve also implemented other policies and programs that reduce our use of fossil fuels, improve our selection of less wasteful materials, and aid the community as a whole. For example, we now regularly host a Household Hazardous Waste Collection site. These sites allow citizens to properly dispose of their environmentally dangerous items. “Lincoln Industries collections have diverted nearly 25,000 pounds of potentially hazardous waste from our landfill and served over 500 citizens of Lincoln and Lancaster County,” said Dan King, environmental health specialist with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department.

Last but not least, a recent $1.2 million renovation to our waste treatment facilities has effectively doubled our waste treatment capacity and further improves our ability to limit our environmental impact.

A True Commitment

Explaining our environmental initiatives may sound like we’re tooting our horns, but we feel you should know our only legal obligation to the environment is meeting minimum requirements. This isn’t enough for us. Our efforts result from a philosophy that believes sustainability should be a critical business mission and not just an excuse to meet regulations or to earn certifications. Of course if certifications are your thing, then you can rest easy knowing that our strict compliance with environmental regulations has earned us an ISO 14001 certification, the international standard for environmental management.