Contact: Sharon Goble (517) 241-8280

Hazel Park Company Earns Pollution Prevention Loan

A Hazel Park company is receiving a $55,066 loan under the Department of Environmental Quality’s new Small Business Pollution Prevention Loan Program.

J&L Products Inc. is a small, family-owned business specializing in zinc and cadmium plating. The loan enables J&L Products to upgrade the tank systems on two zinc plating lines, and install a spray bar system that reduces annual water usage by 200,000 gallons as well as reduces the frequency of replenishing the tanks with makeup chemicals.

The program provides low-interest loans to small businesses with fewer than 100 employees to encourage the implementation of projects that eliminate or reduce waste through source reduction or recycling. It is part of the Clean Michigan Initiative, the $675 million environmental bond proposed by Gov. John Engler and overwhelmingly approved by voters in 1998.

"Plating businesses provide an ideal focus for pollution prevention initiatives," DEQ Director Russell Harding said. "I commend J&L Products for its leadership in becoming the first metal plater in the Detroit area to participate in this program."

Lynn Persyn, president of J&L Products, said: "We’re glad to be able to implement this pollution prevention project. For a business as small as ours, the interest cost savings is an extremely important factor to us."

Under the program, the DEQ works in partnership with the company and its local bank to provide a loan that does not exceed the 5-percent interest rate established in the state statute creating the program. In this instance, Comerica Bank of Birmingham is participating in the loan with the DEQ.

Loans of up to $100,000 are available to all private business sectors including manufacturing, farming, retail and service.

Contact the DEQ’s Environmental Assistance Division at 1-800-662-9278 for more information or to receive a loan application.