Sustainability
Crane Company is committed to protecting the environment and our associates by taking responsibility to prevent serious or irreversible environmental degradation through efficient operations and activities. Crane Company recognizes environmental management among its highest priorities throughout the corporation, and has established policies, programs, and metrics that are integral and essential elements of the business plan of each of the business units.
Going beyond simply complying with all laws related to environmental issues, we are dedicated to minimizing occupational health and safety risks to all our employees by utilizing safe technologies, training programs, effective risk management practices and sound science to define and efficiently manage and reduce all significant environmental risks. We are working to improve the operation of our facilities through the efficient use of energy and sustainable use of resources, and we strive to minimize adverse environmental impact through waste reduction, recycling, and responsible waste disposal. Finally, we seek to manufacture and deliver products and services that minimize environmental impact and that are safe when properly used and maintained.
As a proponent of lean manufacturing, “being green” in the sense of conserving resources is built into much of what we do as a company. Nonetheless, greater awareness through the establishment of metrics and tracking methodologies has enabled each of our business units and our corporate office to identify additional ways to protect our planet proactively while pursuing our business goals and strategy. The company has set 2030 targets which we are working towards as part of this overall strategy as well.
2030 Sustainability Targets
Safety is a #1 Business Priority
2022 Sustainability Statistics
Crane Currency Dalton Waste Water Treatment Plant
Crane Currency’s historic manufacturing site located in Dalton, Massachusetts, is also the headquarters for Crane Currency. Established in 1801 by Zenas Crane, the Dalton campus today includes two paper mills, raw material processing capabilities, and a Research & Development facility. In 1879, W. Murray Crane secured the Company’s first order to produce US currency paper at this site, and we are extremely proud of our 140-year history and our critical role as the sole supplier providing paper for US currency to the United States Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving & Printing.
Papermaking is a very water-intensive process relative to the other types of manufacturing processes employed across Crane, and the Dalton site accounts for 71% of Crane’s overall manufacturing water use. The Dalton site recognizes the potential influence of its water use, and it has a long history of working to minimize its impact on the water ecosystem and to preserve natural resources.
Our Dalton site first shows respect for the local community’s needs by extracting 84% of its water requirements from artesian wells rather than from local municipal water sources. To further reduce the strain on the local environment, a substantial portion of the water used in the early stages of the manufacturing process is captured and re-used elsewhere before being discharged. Once the water has cycled through the entire process, the site goes one step further—90% of the discharged water is captured and returned to local water supplies after extensive filtering and treatment.
Wastewater from the Dalton campus’s four manufacturing buildings flows to the site’s dedicated wastewater treatment plant that cleans approximately four million gallons of water each day. In the treatment plant, the wastewater undergoes a series of mechanical, chemical, and biological processes to rapidly settle and remove sludge, which is then transported off-site and composted. Once fully processed, the wastewater is released to the east branch of the Housatonic River under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, successfully reintroducing surface water to the environment. Testing confirms that the released, treated water is cleaner than the natural river!
While our Dalton site utilizes a large amount of water in its processes, the overall environmental impact is extremely low thanks to these preservation efforts. Water preservation at the Dalton site receives a lot of attention given the volume used, but environmental awareness extends to other areas as well. For example, since 1996, all residuals from the pulp and paper manufacturing processes are recovered and composted into fertile topsoil highly valued by the local farming community, and we produce more than 15,000 cubic yards of composted organic matter for agricultural use each year. Crane Currency also uses renewable power sources such as hydroelectricity and steam cogeneration in its manufacturing facilities. In 2013, a new hydroelectric turbine was commissioned to generate electric power and to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, and greenhouse gases. Crane Currency has also donated numerous land holdings for conservation, making new areas permanently open to the public for hiking and outdoor enjoyment. The site will continue to strive to do what it can to reduce its footprint on the environment.
Waste Initiative Highlight
BS&U Northampton Repurposing Packaging
Packaging materials are a large portion of every manufacturing site’s solid waste. While boxes, filler paper, and other packaging materials can be sent for recycling, there is often little visibility as to how, or if, these materials are effectively repurposed. Crane Building Services and Utilities’ distribution site in Northampton, UK, has addressed this issue by repurposing packaging material internally by shredding all incoming packaging materials (boxes and filler) for use as filler material for outgoing shipments. This process reduces the amount of cardboard sent for external recycling, while reducing the purchase and use of newly generated packaging materials by over 3 metric tons annually, generating cost savings as well as reducing the site’s environmental impact.
