Clean Burn story from ABC news affiliate in Chicago, IL: WLS-TV

June 11, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — Maybe you recycle your paper and plastic, but what about your car?

A north suburban company is hoping you’ll consider a “green” alternative when your vehicle comes to the end of the road.

Auto parts city was once considered a menace in the community. But after greening up its act, it’s now earning top environmental awards — including Green Business of the Year from the Green Business League.

It may look like a junkyard, but brothers Jay and Larry Brosten hope to change your mind.

“We’ve spent too many years trying to improve our image and we’ve spent millions of dollars setting this facility up and trying to do the right thing,” said Larry Brosten. “But it’s always had the stigma of the ‘j-word’.”

The three-generation old Auto Parts City in Gurnee just got an $8 million make-over. The family’s goal is to set the green standard in auto recycling.

“The automobile is probably the most recycled item that’s mass produced. We used to have a saying on our trucks: the original recyclers,” said Jay Brosten.

When vehicles arrive here, they are first cleaned out. Any usable items left inside, like these car seats, are donated to the YWCA.

Then, the car is drained of all fluids and recyclable parts. Batteries and tires are removed for resale or recycling. Lights that contain potentially harmful mercury are removed for safe disposal. Catalytic converters, which contain platinum, are dismantled. Gas is drained and re-used in the company’s own trucks. While oil is processed through a special furnace called “Cleanburn.” it uses the waste oil to heat three of the company’s five buildings.

“The system we are incorporating inside the fluid evacuation system is from Europe. In Europe, they’re required to recycle the vehicle by the year 2018 to be 98% recyclable. Here there’s no guidelines or standards,” said Jay Brosten, co-owner, Auto Parts City.

Other liquids, like windshield wiper fluid, are filtered, re-bottled and re-sold in their retail store.

“The reason for that is the environment. When the cars are out on our u-pull-it facility, there’s no gas or fluid that can hit the ground,” Larry Brosten. After cars have been processed, customers can stroll the grounds and pull off working parts. When all usable parts have been salvaged, the frames are crushed. The flattened metal is then shipped to a steel recycler — where it can be readied for re-incarnated into another product.

“We try to minimize the amount of material going into a landfill as much as we can,” said Jay Brosten.

The guys at Auto Parts City say they hope others will follow their lead and help make their entire industry more eco-friendly. Check out these links: apcity.com and 21stcenturyautorecycling.com.

Full story available on WLS-TV ABC 7 Chicago site here.

LEOLA, PA – Clean Burn, the leading manufacturing of used-oil furnaces and boilers, has capped off its 30th anniversary year by receiving the “2009 Save Energy Now Energy Saver” award by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program.

The Energy Saver award is presented to those companies that participate in a Save Energy Now energy assessment and successfully achieve more than 75,000 MMBtu total energy savings or more than 7.5 percent total energy savings. One of the unique aspects that made Clean Burn eligible for this award is that the company heats its 125,000 square foot manufacturing facility with recycled used-oil through the company’s boilers and furnaces. The company does not use any electricity or natural gas for heat.

“The used-oil furnaces and boilers we construct are dedicated to saving energy, so it makes perfect sense that our manufacturing facility should have a similar goal,” says Ryan Gamber, engineering manager for Clean Burn. “We worked with an energy consultant to assess key industrial process systems and identify cost-saving opportunities. By implementing the recommended actions, Clean Burn has taken the necessary steps to help reduce our nation’s energy use and shrink our carbon footprint.”

Save Energy Now is a national initiative to reduce industrial energy intensity 25 percent or more in 10 years. Companies nationwide can partner with DOE, participate in no-cost energy assessments, and use ITP’s proven resources to reduce energy use and improve efficiency, while increasing profits.

In 2009, ITP awarded 140 plants for making significant progress in implementing the energy savings opportunities identified through a Save Energy Now energy assessment. In total, the award recipients achieved more than $47 million in cost savings and 6.4 trillion Btu in total energy savings.

There are 80,000 Clean Burn functional furnaces and boilers located throughout the world that burn used-oil each year on-site, at the point of generation. This volume of used-oil would otherwise be transported on highway systems and pose a considerable risk to spills and/or contamination to the environment.

Clean Burn is an ENERGY STAR® partner. The company holds numerous industry certifications and works with the U.S. government, the Environmental Protection Agency and various associations to help coordinate the establishment of standards and regulations related to heat recovery and recycling efforts involving used motor oils. For more information on Clean Burn, visit www.cleanburn.com or call 1-800-331-0183.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: For images of Clean Burn products and more information, visit www.cleanburn.com and click on the “Media Room” site.

Resources
o Save Energy Now Web site: www.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/
o Save Energy Now recognition Web page: www.eere.energy.gov/industry/saveenergynow/recognition.html

LEOLA, PA – The new book, “Bringing It Back Around” provides step-by-step guidance for schools and communities to launch their own recycling center. The story of the student-run Purdy Recycling Center at Purdy High School in Missouri focuses on how students created a thriving, profitable recycling business to fund scholarships and club activities.

Available for $30 each (postage included) at the club website of spanish.purdy.k12.mo.us, the 63-page full-color book was written by teacher Gerry Wass, who serves as coordinator of the project. “We wanted to share our story and inspire other schools and communities to develop similar recycling projects across the country,” says Wass, a world languages instructor at Purdy High School. “In just under four years these students have made this into a profitable endeavor raising more than $6,000 while satisfying a community need.”

According to Wass, a limited number of free copies of the book will be available to the first individuals contacting him through the website.

Clean Burn®, a corporate sponsor of the book project, has a Clean Burn furnace in the Purdy Recycling Center. The furnace recycles used motor oil to generate heat for the stand-alone facility.

“Once you have a source of used oil, the most environmentally-sound way of disposing of it is to burn it to heat a building in the winter,” says Wass. “The Clean Burn furnace hangs from the ceiling, out of the way of other recycling efforts, and has allowed us to collect used oil filters from industrial clients like auto dealerships and auto repair garages.

“Once crushed, a 55-gallon container of used filters generates between eight and ten gallons of used motor oil — even if they’ve been drained. We add this to the other used motor oils we collect from our school bus fleet and other sources. The Clean Burn furnace transforms the used motor oil into free heat for our facility.”

Traditionally used in locations that generate large amounts of used motor oil — such as tractor trailer and heavy equipment facilities — this is one of the first times a Clean Burn unit has been used in a “home grown” recycling center project.

For additional details on the Purdy Recycling Project, visit spanish.purdy.k12.mo.us.

There are 80,000 Clean Burn functional furnaces and boilers located throughout the world that burn millions of gallons of used-oil each year on-site, at the point of generation. This volume of used-oil would otherwise be transported on highway systems and pose a considerable risk to spills and/or contamination to the environment.

Clean Burn is an ENERGY STAR® partner. The company holds numerous industry certifications and works with the U.S. government, the Environmental Protection Agency and various associations to help coordinate the establishment of standards and regulations related to heat recovery and recycling efforts involving used motor oils. For more information on Clean Burn, visit www.cleanburn.com or call 1-800-331-0183.

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FOR RELEASE: http://cleanburn.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=41
PHOTOGRAPHY: For images of Clean Burn products visit the MEDIA ROOM at www.cleanburn.com.

LEOLA, PA – For 25 years A D Supplies, Inc. has worked with companies throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to help them save energy. During that time, the team of 30 employees has sold and installed thousands of Clean Burn used-oil recycling boilers and furnaces in hospitals, car dealerships and mass transit operational facilities.

“We’ve earned a reputation for quality by the service we provide and the products we install,” says Jeff Dale, owner of A D Supplies, Inc. in Willow Grove, Penn. “To keep that reputation we always sell Clean Burn products. From our research and experience, this company’s boilers and furnaces outlast the competitor’s products and are far more reliable than any other waste oil retrieval system on the market.”

The largest designer, builder and installer of commercial radiant heating in the United States, A D Supplies sells more than 200 Clean Burn systems each year in about 30 different industries “It just doesn’t make sense for a company to pay to have waste oils transported to a dump site when they can recycle them into free heat to reduce on-site energy bills,” says Dale.

Geisinger Health System
At Geisinger Health System’s eight facilities in Danville, the largest consolidated health care organization in central Pennsylvania recycles a significant amount of used motor oils each year. The team at A D Supplies installed the medical center’s first Clean Burn furnace in 1990. Since that time, the facility has tripled in size, adding a small fleet of air ambulances, turf care equipment and other vehicles to its on-site operations.

“We added a new CB3500 furnace this year with ductwork to connect the free heat generated by the recycled motor oils to many parts of the expanding operations,” says Dale. “This organization now has community practices in more than 43 counties in our state. We’re proud to have Clean Burn units in several of these facilities along with the headquarters location in Danville.”

Sawchuk’s Garage
As one of Pennsylvania’s largest independent repair facilities, Sawchuk’s Garage in Pottstown is equipped to handle alignment, oil changes, break services, transmission work, state inspections and other services on a multitude of autos and sports vehicles. They even handle heavy duty trucks and motor homes. All that work generates a large amount of waste oil.

“Our oldest Clean Burn unit has provided free heat from over 75,000 gallons of waste oil since 1994,” says Paul Sawchuk, owner of Sawchuk’s Garage. “That’s a lot of free heat, and that’s why we have three Clean Burn units today.”

Installed by A D Supplies, the Clean Burn units at Sawchuk’s Garage showcase the burner technology that Dale terms “ideal” for burning waste oil. “There isn’t any other furnace I trust as much as Clean Burn for my customers,” says Dale. “We’ve relied on that company to help grow our business for a quarter of a century. In return, they’ve consistently provided us with products that get the job done and require minimal upkeep and maintenance. For us, that’s a winning combination that will lead us into our next 25 years of business.”

For additional details on projects and services, along with waste oil products available from A D Supplies, visit www.equipros.com.

There are 80,000 Clean Burn functional furnaces and boilers located throughout the world that burn approximately 120 million gallons of used-oil each year on-site, at the point of generation. This volume of used-oil would otherwise be transported on highway systems and pose a considerable risk to spills and/or contamination to the environment.

Clean Burn is an ENERGY STAR® partner. The company holds numerous industry certifications and works with the U.S. government, the Environmental Protection Agency and various associations to help coordinate the establishment of standards and regulations related to heat recovery and recycling efforts involving used motor oils. For more information on Clean Burn, visit www.cleanburn.com or call 1-800-331-0183.