MEI WIN ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD
15 January 2007
MEI have been awarded the 2006 ROE Leadership Award by GE as part of GE's Ecomagination Initiative. The award noted that �MEI was in the top one percent of manufacturers being honoured for striking a positive balance between today's environmental, industrial and sustainability challenges�.
The plant in Flemington, New Jersey, has no mains water. All water is taken from on site wells and all waste is trucked off site. In past years, MEI has not been able to process enough well water at peak manufacturing times and incurred a large cost to tanker away the waste water. Working with GE, MEI designed and installed new equipment to recover 50% of their waste plant liquor for re-use in the plant, and reduced total liquid effluent by 22 million gallons per annum, thereby reducing tankering costs by half and reducing the stress on the wells.
On making the award Jeff Garwood, President of GE congratulated MEI, commenting: �Your commitment shows that increasingly what's good for the environment can also be good for business. You have proven that in today's world, being environmentally conscious is no longer a dreaded drag on the bottom line. In fact, your commitment and efforts have demonstrated that improving operating efficiency and conserving scarce natural resources is quickly becoming the fast track to improved capacity and healthier profit margins. MEI's pioneering leadership has set an example for others to aspire to and follow.�
The photo shows members of the project team - Charles Gartland (GE), Gavin Edwards, Jim Miller and Brian Peters (GE).