After additional research, there will be two other sustainable practices that Riordan Manufacturing can use to increase sustainability at all 4 locations. All locations deal with some type of solvent cleaner that causes hazardous waste to land, air, and water pollution. The strategy that we have selected relates to how they can invest, or donate money to Frostburg State University, whom is currently doing research for green organic solvents.
According to Frost State University, there are two main approaches to solving the solvent problem. In the first approach, the solvent is removed altogether. Many reactions can be done under these “neat” conditions, but many reagents and intermediates are not stable outside of solution. The second approach replaces petrochemical solvents with greener solvents. We want to develop a new kind of green solvent that can be prepared from abundant, inexpensive, innocuous, bio-renewable components and can be reused or recycled. Our approach uses low-melting mixtures of compounds that meet these requirements, like choline chloride, proline, tartaric acid, and urea. All of these compounds are soluble in water, so products of reactions can be isolated by addition of water followed by filtration or simple extraction. The solvent mixtures can then be recovered by evaporation of the water (“Green Organic Solvents”, 2013). Although this is an investment and there are no given cost, we can most definitely see the benefit of investing in frost University's green organic solvents for the long run and maybe even perhaps for the short run of Riordan Manufacturing sustainable practices. The next product Riordan should use to increase its sustainability is the Roto Max 90 Machine (Four million U.S Dollars total). They will need to invest in four, each costing $750, 000.