Pollution Prevention

Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association and its members are leaders in Pollution Prevention eliminating more than 404,000 tonnes of toxic and targeted substance from their manufacturing operations.

The Canadian Automotive Pollution Prevention Project, initiated in 1992, has resulted in the elimination of more than 404,000 tonnes of toxic and targeted substances at the source. The Project's distinctive goal is to produce a verifiable reduction in persistent toxic substances as well as other environmental contaminants of concern used, generated, or released by the participating member companies of the CVMA. The Project is a proud winner of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment 2000 Pollution Prevention Award.

The CVMA, in cooperation with Environment Canada and Ontario Ministry of the Environment, developed the first voluntary sectoral pollution prevention project in Canada. It is the longest running pollution prevention initiative in Canada which has evolved over its 10 year history and still continues to report great successes. The Project serves as a model for other industry sectors, demonstrating that voluntary, progressive, proactive efforts can reduce pollution.

The 8th Progress Report of the Task Force of the Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Pollution Prevention Project details the most recent success stories of the participating companies, the substances being targeted, and provides a synopsis of the great achievements of the program since its inception in 1992.

Discussions are underway with government regarding the future structure of the Project. In the meantime, the companies continuously work internally at their manufacturing facilities, and with their suppliers, to further incorporate pollution prevention into their processes and as an ongoing foundation for future business planning.

The following case studies are only a selection from the total of 150 cases that have been reported in the eight Progress Reports issued to date. Since the reporting of these case studies products produced and processes used may have changed as a result of further plant or process upgrades.

Selected Case Studies

Total Elimination of CFCs and Halons
DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc.
Brampton Assembly Plant (8th Progress Report)

The DaimlerChrysler Brampton Assembly Plant in Brampton, Ontario, manufactures 968 cars per day on two shifts producing the Chrysler LH line – Intrepid, Concorde and 300 M. The production processes include stamping, body welding, painting and assembly. These new vehicles are designed from the ground up with pollution prevention and Life Cycle Management as part of the design criteria.

DaimlerChrysler has adopted a policy of removing Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) from service in all of its facilities in order to reduce the risk of emissions.

DaimlerChrysler Brampton Assembly Plant. (Click on picture to enlarge)

The Brampton Assembly Plant has had an on-going project to minimize and eliminate the usage of CFCs and Halons throughout the plant. This includes both Freon-11 and Freon-12 along with the usage of Halon 1301 for fire retardant systems.

For this pollution prevention effort, the plant's objective was to locate all the uses of Freons and Halons and replace it with substitutions or totally eliminate the process. The program began in the mid-nineties to remove the Freon-11 chillers and replace them with units containing HFC-134a. In 2000, a $1.2 million project was initiated to remove all Halon 1301 from the spray booth fire protection systems, the computer room and the Electrocoat Laboratory and replace them with a non-ozone depleting substance FM-200. In total 1.3 tonnes of CFC and 3.3 tonnes of Halons were removed from the plant.

As a result, 4.6 tonnes of ODS products were eliminated from the plant as well as the risk of inadvertent emissions through upsets or accidental releases that may be harmful to the ozone layer.

Paint Use Reduction
Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited
Oakville Assembly Plant (8th Progress Report)

The Ford Oakville Assembly Plant manufactures the Windstar minivan for the global market. The plant is located on a 487 acre site on the same property as the headquarters of Ford of Canada and the Ontario Truck Plant. The facility has a 3.8 million square foot floor area and employs approximately 3,200 people. Production first began in 1953.

Under the Performance Standard Guideline set out by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) (August 1995), it was recommended that the coating facilities of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) limit their volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions to 60 g/m2 by the year 2005. With the implementation of several VOC reduction projects, the Oakville Assembly Plant has achieved a 30 g/m2 VOC actual cumulative average in 2001, which means its VOC emissions are 50% below the CCME target.

Ford Paint Spray Automation System. (Click on the picture to enlarge)

One of the main projects that allowed the Oakville Assembly Plant to reduce its VOC emissions was the paint use reduction project. In the past, two coats of paint were required for the solid colour units. Black and white are the only solid colours. These units were also painted in two reciprocator zones. In June 2000, the colour spray automation system was reprogrammed to paint these units in the first reciprocator zone only and to only apply one coat of paint on these units. The implementation of this project was possible because of improved spray nozzles and technology that allowed the adjustment of fluid flows to optimize film-build and appearance. The transition to one-coat painting was completed in October 2001.

Reducing paint use and limiting the paint process to one reciprocator zone decreased the need for paint and cleaning solvent. This project therefore reduced VOC emissions by reducing usage of solvent and paint overspray that occurred in the second reciprocator zone.

The objective of the pollution prevention effort was to reduce usage of paint and solvent, which contain VOCs such as methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), xylene, n-butyl acetate, and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene through process change.
The result was that there was a reduction in paint and solvent usage of 77 tonnes per year, a 20% VOC emission reduction.

Improved Paint Transfer Efficiency Using Rotary Bell Applicator
General Motors of Canada Limited
Oshawa Truck Assembly Plant (8th Progress Report)

The General Motor's Truck Assembly Centre in Oshawa builds Chevrolet and GMC Pickups -1/2 ton capacity models in two and four wheel drive, shortbox and stepside extended cab versions. The Truck Assembly Centre is on the site of the GMCL Oshawa Autoplex, which is the largest North American Automotive facility, occupying over 110 hectares of floor area. Utilizing 30 hectares of the floor space, with state of the art assembly facilities and synchronous manufacturing techniques, the Truck Plant produces approximately 1300 vehicles per day. Other operations on the Autoplex site include Car Assembly, Stamping operations, Tri-Link fabrication, and Battery manufacturing. Oshawa operations employ over 12,000 people.

GM Aquabell Process. (Click on picture to enlarge)

The Oshawa Truck Assembly Plant uses waterborne basecoats in their painting operation. In 1994 the plant assisted with the development of technology to apply the waterborne basecoats electrostatically which improved the transfer efficiency of the paint process. The next step in further improving transfer efficiency was to switch from an air assisted atomizer to a rotary bell applicator.

The Oshawa Truck Assembly Plant, in cooperation with Sames, Fanuc and General Motors North America paint group, developed a rotary bell applicator - "Aquabell" - for waterborne electrostatic paint application. The rotary bell applicator can improve transfer efficiency by more than 20%.

The Oshawa Truck Assembly Plant is the first assembly plant to implement the Aquabell applicators within General Motors. All of the robots that apply basecoat at the Oshawa Truck Assembly Plant are being converted throughout 2001 and 2002.

This process redesign pollution prevention initiative was intended to address all media – land, water and air by improving paint transfer efficiency. By improving paint transfer efficiency the assembly plant realizes several business, operating and environmental benefits concurrently – paint usage is reduced, paint cost is reduced, air emissions are reduced, waste paint is reduced and less cleaning needs to be done in the spraybooths.

Volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds that are used in the basecoats: n-butyl alcohol, methyl ethyl ketone, xylenes, 2-butoxyethanol, 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone, ethylene glycol were targeted for reduction with a 20% improvement in transfer efficiency with the associated improvements in paint usage, emissions and waste generation.

As a result, the efficiency was increased by more than 20%. This means less paint needs to be sprayed to achieve the same quality and appearance characteristics. In addition, paint savings are more than 300,000 litres or $5 million per year were realized. With the reduced paint usage Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions have been reduced by 60 tonnes annually.

Furthermore, waste paint has been reduced by 88 tonnes which translates to 30 tonnes less paint sludge going to landfill.

Available Publications and Information on Pollution Prevention

	Eighth Progress Report (pdf format)
	Seventh Progress Report (pdf format)