Carestream enhances recycling at Oregon and Colorado facilities

Carestream Health, a manufacturer of medical and dental imaging systems in Rochester, New York, has announced it has reduced energy consumption and enhanced recycling efforts at its facilities in Oregon and Colorado.

“We continuously examine our manufacturing processes and product components to identify areas where we can help protect the environment,” says Cavan Kelsey, Carestream’s corporate environmental health and safety & sustainability director. “Our aim is to continue to reduce energy use despite the addition of new processing and production machines at both sites.” 

At Carestream’s plant in Windsor, Colorado, employees recover and reuse up to 16 million pounds of radiographic film each year from manufacturing operations, which reduces consumption of raw materials and offers significant environmental benefits. The company intends to expand its recycling effort to include an additional 5 million pounds of film per year.

Carestream also works to control hazardous waste from product manufacturing and maintenance activities. Both its Colorado and Oregon manufacturing plants capture solvents that can be reused or recovered and sold for other uses. The company says it further reduces the output of hazardous waste by trimming the use of silver, plastics and other components in its manufacturing processes. 

The company says it invested in new energy-efficient motors, LED lighting and other equipment to achieve a 3.66 percent reduction in energy costs over the last two years at its White City, Oregon, plant while production held constant and the site expanded its contract manufacturing capabilities. Energy consumption reductions in the manufacturing facility also eliminated more than 16.3 million cubic feet of carbon dioxide.