Site
visit:
Inno­
Flex
Corporation
7101
31st
Avenue
North
Minneapolis,
MN
55427
Participants:
Frank
Scharber­
Facility
and
Maintenance
Manager
Melanie
Tyler­
Environmental
Specialist­
United
States
Compliance­
Consultant
Teena
Wooten­
EPA
OSW
Jim
O'Leary­
EPA­
OSW
Nancy
Ellefson­
MN
Pollution
Control
Agency
Date:
May
11,
2006
Jim
O'Leary
and
Teena
Wooten
with
the
Environmental
Protection
Agency's
Office
of
Solid
Waste
and
Nancy
Ellefson
with
the
Minnesota
Pollution
Control
Agency
visited
the
Inno­
Flex
facility
in
Minneapolis,
MN
on
May
11,
2006.
Inno­
Flex
manufactures
membrane
switches
for
the
appliance
industry.
The
company
began
operating
three
shifts
about
seven
months
ago.

The
manufacturing
process
has
not
changed
drastically
over
the
last
several
years.
The
company
eliminated
some
ink
lines
and
changed
to
more
friendly
press
clean­
up
materials.
The
solvents
and
print
towels
are
used
for
cleaning
the
printing
machines.
The
operators
use
the
towels
to
clean
the
equipment
using
chemical
plunger
cans
to
saturate
the
towel
before
beginning
the
cleaning
process.
On
a
weekly
basis
the
print
towels
are
centrifuged
by
an
outside
contractor,
picked
up
by
a
contracted
laundry
service,
washed
and
returned.
The
towels
are
collected
in
14
gallon
safety
cans
at
the
workstation.
At
the
end
of
the
shift
or
when
the
can
is
full
the
used
towels
are
transferred
to
55
gallon
drums
located
in
the
storage
area.
The
55­
gallon
drums
have
a
drip
screen
approximately
12
inches
from
the
bottom
of
drum
to
collect
the
used
solvent
that
has
drained
from
the
towels.
A
weekly
average
of
approximately
30
gallons
of
spent
solvent
is
recovered
from
centrifuging.
The
recovered
solvent
is
sent
for
fuel
blending.
A
total
of
12,320
lbs.
of
spent
solvent
was
shipped
last
year
for
fuel
blending.

Solvent
and
used/
cut­
up
restroom
roll
towels
are
used
for
adhesive
clean
up
in
the
Lamination
department
and
disposed
of
through
fuel
blending
off
site.
A
total
of
1320
lbs.
of
adhesive/
solvent
rags
was
shipped
off
site
for
fuel
blending
last
year.
InnoFlex
is
a
small
quantity
generator.
