IGT Global Solutions Corp in Lakeland, FL was named the Winner for Sustainability Programs in the 2021 Sustainability Excellence Awards for implementing a waste management program.
IGT is one of the world’s largest gaming solutions providers, focusing on the production of instant lottery tickets as well as other solutions for gaming, digital and social. The company has a recycling program that diverts all printing paper waste and office paper waste to a recycling facility to be repurposed.
To augment IGT’s recycling program, the printer implemented a new reclamation program that partnered with NuCycle Energy, a waste processing technology company. This program included waste identification using posters and flyers, training material including employee meetings and postings, covered storage and dedicated docks, and logistics/transportation between IGT and the new processor.
“We were looking for a way to reduce landfill waste internally,” says Rob Anderson, senior director operations. “We had a variety of smaller projects that moved the needle in the right direction, but nothing impactful. We heard of NuCycle Energy and invited them in for a presentation. The rest is history.”
NuCycle is an alternative fuel manufacturer that utilizes patented and proprietary materials processing technology. The company receives pre-consumer refuse materials from commercial and industrial businesses. This material is then used to manufacture an energy dense, highly engineered fuel product called Enviro-Fuelcubes (EFCs), which are used as an alternative fuel source to replace coal in the energy intensive industrial manufacturing and utility power generation sectors.
When IGT saw the NuCycle operation and learned how the company’s standard landfill waste could become an alternative to coal, it was almost a “no-brainer.” The companies worked together to determine what landfill type product could be used in IGT’s operation, and determined the means of transportation and a delivery schedule. It has been a great partnership ever since, says Anderson.
“The biggest challenge was to get our employees to let go of the status quo,” notes Anderson. “Where they were in the habit of sending something to the compactor, or to an open top dumpster, now needed to be segregated to go on the NuCycle Energy trailer. It was a learning curve that just needed to be managed.”
The new process reduces the use of open top waste containers to collect the debris, with reclaimed materials now being kept in closed top truck containers. The addition of this storage/collection space removes excess process waste from the production floor.
Additionally, IGT says placing these materials in the closed top trailers reduces the potential environmental impact to employees and neighbors by removing the potential for contaminates to be spread across the property, parking lots and stormwater retention due to high winds and rain.
As a result of the new program, IGT reports it removed 7,175,050 pounds of waste from landfills in 2020. Of this total, 1,073,380 pounds were diverted into an alternate fuel source. This alternate fuel source is a one-to-one cleaner replacement for burning 1,073,380 pounds of coal.
The company says the key measurement for success was maintaining a production landfill waste of less than 3 percent annually, which it was able to achieve in the first year.
Multiple factors inspired the implementation of the landfill waste reduction program, which included IGT’s customers requesting less environmental impact in its processes, reducing environmental exposure to neighbors and local wildlife, and reducing the company’s impact on greenhouse gas generation and mitigating potential groundwater contamination from its waste stream.
“IGT strives to be good stewards of our community and a business role model,” says Anderson. “To meet these ideals, internally we have set lofty goals for developing and accomplishing a sustainability related project on an annual basis. Secondly, our customers are requiring more and more from their vendors as it relates to sustainability. So, for us, it’s a perfect combination. We can please our customers and make an environmental impact at the same time.”