The third time’s the charm for the Paris, Texas, plant

Kimberly-Clark’s Paris, Texas, plant was recently honored by the governor of Texas and state environmental officials with Texas’ highest environmental achievement – a 2009 Texas Environmental Excellence Award (TEEA). The Paris plant was recognized as a facility that improves the Texas environment through its sustainable use of natural resources, energy conservation and waste reduction.

“It’s a great honor for us to receive this award,” said Frank Wright, environmental coordinator for Kimberly-Clark’s Paris plant. “The Paris plant’s outstanding progress has been a result of the combined efforts of a wide range of employees and managers, as well as the corporate environmental staff.”

It seems the third time’s the charm for the Paris plant. In 2006 and 2007 it was named a finalist but didn’t make it to the winner’s circle. This year, it was an innovative recycling program in conjunction with a series of initiatives outlined by K-C’s Environmental Vision 2010 program that made it stand out among the 221 entries submitted. Vision 2010 is an initiative to improve the company’s environmental performance in the areas of fresh water consumption and quality of wastewater discharges, energy conservation and greenhouse gas emissions, manufacturing waste generation and land filling, product and packaging materials content and waste, and key environmental issues in a few targeted countries.

Treated process water is used for irrigation of the Paris plant’s landscape.

In July 2008, the Paris plant initiated the cardboard recycling program that made the difference for this year’s award. Previously, cardboard and plastic were combined to create a mixed waste stream. This stream was then recycled as fuel for waste energy. The new program separates the cardboard from the plastic, which in turn, creates two higher value recycle streams that can now be used as raw material to make new cardboard boxes and plastic products.

The Paris plant recycles 95 percent of its total waste and 99 percent of its manufacturing waste. More than 100,000 tons of waste from the facility has been recycled during the last five years.

The process to manufacture Huggies disposable diapers and Pull-Ups training pants generates wastewater that has to be cleaned before it’s discharged. Utilizing a sophisticated wastewater treatment system, the Paris facility has recycled 23.6 million gallons of treated process wastewater over seven years. The water is used to irrigate the facility landscaping during the summer or recycled back into the process. It proved especially valuable during two summers of severe droughts.

Also, the plant has reduced the volume of hazardous waste generated over the last 12 years by 93 percent.

Cardboard bales are separated and recycled into raw material for new cardboard boxes.

Dedicated to continuously finding new ways to reduce its impact on the environment while achieving costs savings for Kimberly-Clark, the Paris plant holds yearly environmental review meetings to evaluate and identify any gaps. If a program isn’t working then it is adjusted or discarded and a more efficient one is put in place. Employees also are encouraged to offer up suggestions. One case in point is a young intern who saw that office paper wasn’t being recycled. She came up with a recommendation, did the legwork to find an organization to partner with and now the Paris plant is recycling office paper.

“As a producer of disposable products, it is our responsibility to operate as efficiently as possible and reduce the amount of waste, water, energy and other natural resources that go into our products,” Wright said. “Being a steward of our community is a priority and the TEEA award signifies that our community recognizes us as an environmental leader.”

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