March 23, 2004

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and DEQ Director Steven E. Chester, today announced that five Lacks Enterprises, Inc. sites have been designated as Michigan Clean Corporate Citizens.

“The Lacks Corporation has worked diligently over the past several years to improve environmental operations at all eighteen of their Grand Rapids area plants, and has qualified for the distinction of Clean Corporate Citizen status at five of them,” said Governor Granholm. “With these five concurrent designations, Lacks Enterprises can be proud of their environmental improvement”

Michigan’s Clean Corporate Citizen (C3) certification is a voluntary program recognizing environmental stewardship. These newly designated C3’s are: the 52nd Paint East Facility; the 52nd Paint West Facility; the 52nd Mold Facility; the Barden Assembly Facility; and the Brockton Mold Facility – all located in Kentwood. All of them have successfully completed International Organization for Standardization environmental certification, ISO 14001.

“These West Michigan sites become the 89th, 90th, 91st, 92nd, and 93rd Clean Corporate Citizens,” DEQ Director Chester said. “We congratulate this environmentally proactive company on these multiple designations. Lacks Enterprises has become one of the most proactive environmental leaders in Michigan.”

“It was a true team effort of our employees and management to develop and implement the necessary systems to successfully obtain ISO 14001 certification and Clean Corporate Citizen designation at multiple manufacturing facilities. We look forward to obtaining C3 designation for our remaining facilities in the very near future,” said Roger Andrzejewski, Director of Human Resources for Lacks Enterprises.

Lacks Enterprises designs, and manufacturers injection molded parts, does plating and painting, and assembles and distributes plastic interior and exterior ornamentation for the automotive and truck markets. The following is a brief summary of each facility:

Lacks Enterprises, Inc. – 52nd Paint East Facility

This plant applies surface coating to plastic automotive parts with solvent based paints. It’s located in the city limits of Kentwood, Kent County and employs over 100 people. Current environmental goals include reducing waste paint and solvents by installing a “pigable” system for cleaning of paint distribution piping. In addition, this plant intends to pilot use of on-site contract distillation services for recovery of catalyzed paint and solvents.

Lacks Enterprises, Inc. – 52nd Paint West Facility

This plant also applies surface coating to plastic automotive parts with solvent based paints. It’s located in the city limits of Kentwood, Kent County and employs over 200 people. They have aggressive recycling programs in place as well as solvent reuse programs, planned reductions in paint use, increased attention to particulate matter emanating from the trash incinerator, and have installed curb containment to prevent ashes from washing into stormwater drains.

Lacks Enterprises, Inc. – 52nd Mold Facility

This plastic injection molding facility has approximately 100 employees at their Kentwood plant. Waste oil, cardboard, and scrap plastics have been identified as their most significant environmental aspects. They plan to address these aspects by donating reusable Gaylord boxes to Goodwill, recycling greenbar paper, and improving techniques at the molding machines to reduce plastic regrind and scrap plastics. Oil leaks and preventative maintenance are performed regularly to identify potential problem areas and perform timely preventative actions. They also practice pollution prevention hierarchy of waste source reduction and are investigating environmentally sound methods of treatment and recycling.

Lacks Enterprises, Inc. – Barden Assembly Facility

This facility assembles automotive wheels using adhesives and reactive foams. It is located in Kentwood and employs over 150 people. Their environmental goals are to reduce annual VOC emissions by 10 percent through chemical substitutions in their raw products, and to recover 20 pounds per ton of adhesives from the bottom of the drums by installing new pumps in the barrels for more efficient change-over.

Lacks Enterprises, Inc. – Brockton Mold Facility

The Brockton facility employs approximately 100 people and is located in the city limits of Kentwood. This plastic injection molding plant has set environmental goals to reduce waste plastic purgings sent to the landfill. They are also investigating product substitution to replace hydraulic oil with a more environmentally friendly product. One selected product costs more, but is 60 percent biodegradable without a loss of performance. To reduce energy consumption, they have installed power-misers for lighting-dimmers which reduce energy use by 50 percent. Waste oil is being reclaimed for reuse saving approximately 500 gallons per year from disposal.

To qualify for a Clean Corporate Citizen designation, candidates must adopt a facility-specific environmental management system, and active pollution prevention initiatives, and have a consistent record of compliance with applicable environmental requirements. Clean Corporate Citizens are eligible for certain regulatory benefits under the state’s environmental programs, including expedited permit approval. The program is open to establishments regulated under any of Michigan’s environmental statutes. Designations are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.

For more information on the company and its products, visit www.lacksenterprises.com or for information on environmental programs at Lacks Enterprises, Inc., contact Philip Schneider at 616-554-7172.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

Revised March 23, 2004 by Pat Watson