Nicor gives energy grants to Northwest Community, Elgin manufacturer
Nicor Gas has awarded rebate checks to a pair of suburban businesses that have made serious efforts to protect the environment.
Nicor presented Multifilm Packaging Corp. in Elgin with a $100,000 check on Friday morning to help defray some of the $350,000 it spent on a machine that makes it more ecologically sustainable.
Earlier this week, Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights also received a check from Nicor — for $78,370 for installing its own energy efficient natural gas equipment.
“It helped us to make the investment and it makes us more efficient, because it lowers our gas production quite nicely,” said Multifilm President Olle Mannertorp. “Because we’re competing all over the Americas, we need to be cost-efficient.”
Multifilm, a company of 55 employees based in Elgin, makes packaging for confections and snacks, including Godiva, Jolly Rancher and Annie’s Homegrown. It also ships those packaging materials overseas to customers in Canada, the Caribbean and Argentina.
The machine, called a regenerative thermal oxidizer, works by capturing the exhaust expended during production and turning it into fuel needed to keep the process going.
It replaced an old oxidizer that was 20 years old and gave off pollutants.
Multifilm fits perfectly into the green image and initiatives the city is cultivating, Mayor Dave Kaptain said.
“These are the kinds of projects that fit right into what we want to do,” said Kaptain.
Multifilm installed the machine last spring and it’s already paid dividends.
Before the machine arrived, Multifilm was putting out $10,000 a month in natural gas costs. Now officials pay $1,300 a month.
More than 140 businesses have participated in Nicor’s rebate program, which has been around since last June. Nicor has awarded more than $500,000 in rebates to business customers, but residents also can qualify.
“It is of critical importance that we conserve the energy resources that we have,” Nicor President Ralph Cleveland said.