CHICAGO, ILElectronic Interconnect Technology (EI) is the recipient of the Illinois Governor's Pollution Prevention Awards (P2) for 2007. The annual P2 awards are presented to Illinois businesses and organizations that have successfully reduced the generation of gaseous, liquid, and solid waste. To win the award, EI had to satisfy stringent evaluation criteria applied to its implementation of P2 projects/ technologies. These multiple criteria included waste volume/ toxicity reduction; economic benefits; raw material, labor, energy, water, and disposal cost savings; management commitment; benefits to workers, community, and environment; and others.
Since 1987, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center has worked with the Illinois Governor's office to recognize outstanding pollution-prevention efforts. These annual awards are presented to businesses and organizations in Illinois that have helped the environment and the economy of Illinois by successfully reducing the generation of gaseous, liquid, and solid waste.
Pratish Patel, the company's President and CEO, says, "We are delighted to receive this award and recognition of our efforts to be a leader in "green" PCB manufacturing. It was a lot of work, and required great effort from every member of the EI team. We initiated several projects to decrease our chemical consumption and waste generation by a range of 10 to 45 percent for eight major chemicals. The liquid hazardous waste generated was reduced by 40 percent in a period of two years, which is almost 40,000 gallons per year. We also substituted less hazardous chemicals in other processes and eliminated the in-house consumption of lead-bearing materials."