PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Bullseye Glass in Southeast Portland is using cadmium again, for the first time since they agreed to stop using it in February.
Since then, with the approval of the Department of Environmental Quality, Bullseye has installed a new filtration system to remove toxins.
Cadmium is used to create certain colors of glass. Bullseye Glass president Dan Schwoerer told KOIN in March that production was down because they couldn’t make red, orange or yellow. Now they are able to use materials containing cadmium in limited qualities in the controlled furnace that is connected to the baghouse filter.
The DEQ said the baghouse filters are 99% effective, and will also help assess technologies for additional emission control systems that will eventually incorporate all furnaces.
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Despite the DEQ’s confidence in the system, some neighbors are still concerned about the emissions.
“It’s really good and I trust that number when you are talking about the emissions that are going to go through the baghouse,” said Mary Peveto, president of Neighbors for Clean Air. “The problem is we have no idea how much of their total emissions go through the bag house.”
Bullseye Glass said this is good news for the artists and the 150 employees whose work depends on red, yellow and orange glass.
