Dillon Floral Corp. of Bloomsburg, Columbia County, installed a new wood-fired heating system at their facility that will replace an existing inefficient oil heating system and save over $106,000 annually.

The Small Business Pollution Prevention Assistance Account loan program provides funding for a variety of pollution prevention projects, including the Dillon project.

The new system will be fueled by wood waste and will help the business save money by reducing the amount of heating oil consumed. With the new system, the company will save over 145,152 gallons of heating oil annually as well as reducing their air emissions.

The company projects an annual savings of $106,049 and a simple payback of approximately 6.6 years.

Dillon Floral also received a $206,691 Energy Harvest grant for the wood-fired greenhouse heating system.

Preventing pollution saves raw material costs, waste disposal costs, handling costs and sometimes regulatory costs (such as permits and emission fees). As a result, companies are beginning to recognize that pollution prevention and energy efficiency make good business sense and that pollution control (such as the handling, treating and disposing of waste) should be a last resort.

Pollution prevention practices also may reduce potential liability, reduce health and safety risks and lower future regulatory costs by helping a business become exempt from regulations. The savings realized can go directly to the company’s bottom line, making it more competitive and more productive.

In order to help small businesses implement pollution prevention and energy efficiency projects, DEP and the Department of Community and Economic Development administer the PPAA loan program. Since the inception of the loan program in 1999, DEP has received 179 loan applications totaling more than $8.9 million.

The loan program is available to any small business owner whose pollution prevention/energy efficiency project is located in Pennsylvania. The business must have 100 or fewer full-time employees and be a separate legal business entity.

The loan must be used to purchase or upgrade equipment, or to implement a process change, that reduces or reuses raw materials on-site, reduces the production of waste at the source or significantly reduces energy consumption. Equipment and processes that focus on recycling or pollution control (scrubbers, filters, dust collectors, etc.) are ineligible for the loan.

The project must have a payback period less than or equal to the term of the loan and the expected benefits must extend beyond the term of the loan. The maximum loan amount is $100,000 with a 2 percent fixed interest rate and a maximum term of ten years.

For more information, visit the Small Business Pollution Prevention Assistance Account loan program webpage or contact Gene DelVecchio at 717 772-8951 or send email to: gdelvecchi@state.pa.us .

6/13/2008