Hayden Industrial designs and manufactures custom thermal solutions for critical industries like power generation, data centers, renewables and complex industrial processes. Managing oil drips, leaks, and spills is an everyday operational challenge.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma facility relies on heavy manufacturing equipment such as presses, expanders, and other machinery that require significant amounts of lubricating oils to ensure precision, reliability, and long equipment life. In addition, the products they manufacture are filled with oil, which has employees wiping machines and hands regularly.
When Chris Patterson joined Hayden Industrial as Environmental Health & Safety Manager in Tulsa, Hayden Industrial was seeking a more efficient way to manage petroleum waste. About a year ago, the company partnered with CRI Environmental Solutions to implement its petroleum waste recycling program using recyclable absorbent materials instead of the loose granular absorbent they were using at the time. The difference was immediate.
“It’s about efficiency. Employees are able to put an absorbent down around a machine and when it needs to be replaced, it can be disposed of in a CRI container,” Patterson said. “It is a lot easier than a granular absorbent that needs to be swept up and disposed of separately.”
CRI delivers around 5 different types of absorbent materials. Some are placed around presses, expanders, and other oil-intensive equipment. Others are within reach for wiping drips and cleaning up spills. All petroleum-contaminated pads, rags, hoses, and filters can be placed in one of four large totes strategically located throughout the 150,000-square-foot Tulsa facility, giving every department easy access. When the totes are full, Hayden simply calls CRI.
“Flexibility is also very important,” Patterson said. “I want to be able to call for a pickup or place an order based on need, not because I’m locked into a schedule and a purchasing contract. CRI is flexible and dependable. Anytime we call, they are there that day.”
For Hayden Industrial, that flexibility translates directly into operational efficiency and environmental management.
Petroleum-contaminated absorbents, rags, and filters are identified as a significant environmental aspect in Hayden Industrial’s ISO 14001:2015 environmental management system. CRI’s program functions as a direct operational control for that aspect. Employees spend less time cleaning spills, use significantly less absorbent material than they did with granular absorbent, and no longer need to manage multiple waste containers.
By consolidating all petroleum-contaminated materials into dedicated totes with recycling, CRI supports the lifecycle perspective ISO 14001 requires. Waste that was previously landfilled as loose granular absorbent is now diverted into a recycling stream, and the risk of contaminating recyclable oil is reduced.
“The service also simplifies our compliance obligations: a single, documented waste stream with a dependable, on-call pickup is easier to control, track, and demonstrate to auditors than multiple containers and ad hoc disposal,” Patterson said. “In short, CRI helps us prevent pollution, manage a significant aspect at the source, and show continual improvement in our environmental performance — which is exactly what the standard asks of us.”
As Hayden Industrial expands, the company relies on CRI Environmental Solutions to deliver the responsive service and scalable recycling solutions that support its continued growth. If you are looking for an efficient, flexible, and sustainable petroleum recycling program, contact us today.
