Fujifilm in July announced that its Greenwood, S.C., plant will begin using methane gas from a local community landfill to power approximately 40 percent of the facility’s operations, which include manufacturing newspaper plates.

An agreement with Greenwood County and Methane Credit LLC will allow methane gas extracted from the landfill to be piped into the Fujifilm complex where it will be used in two of the facility’s four boilers.

 

“This is a situation where we have come up with a solution that is both good for our business, good for the community and very good for the environment,” said Johnny Udo, director of environmental, health and safety for Fujifilm.

The project will help the plant reduce its greenhouse emissions by 10 percent, Fuji said.

The plant will use approximately 197 billion BTUs of methane-generated energy from the landfill per year, the equivalent of the amount of energy used to heat more than 5,000 homes each year, according to Fuji.

Meantime, Agfa Graphics’ plate facility in Leeds, U.K., won first prize for leadership in environmental excellence in a national award competition from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. The Leeds production plant was honored with the MX Arup Award for Sustainable Manufacturing for improving its treatment of waste by 98.5 percent, virtually eliminating landfill, Agfa said.

Agfa said it’s found a method of production that decreases the amount of acidic waste produced in the making of the aluminum printing plates. The new production method creates a more soluble waste and cleaner results, according to Agfa.