Taking the green initiative

Companies care about more than just tires

By: Bob Bissler

We asked tire manufacturers this question: “In addition to eco-friendly tires (see also, "Low rollers, high road"), does your company employ any other green initiatives in the tire manufacturing process?” Here’s what they had to tell us. They’re doing a lot more than many people may realize.

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC

The Bridgestone Group has long been an industry leader in green initiatives. In every corner of the company, we are using the power of our global technologies and our innovative teammates to do the right things for our planet and the environment.

Our “One Team, One Planet” environmental and energy initiatives are making a difference every day. Our concern for the environment in material selection, production processes and logistics continually improves our environmental performance.

We have the only two tire manufacturing facilities in the world certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System administered by the U.S. Green Building Council. We also have a Gold LEED certified retail facility from which we are using best building practices when constructing our new retail facilities.

Our global goal is to reduce CO2 from an entire product’s life cycle by 35% per sales. Another goal is to improve tire rolling efficiency by 25%, resulting in less fuel use and CO2 emissions while driving.

We also will reduce the overall weight of our tires and resources needed to produce them while maintaining performance. All scrap tires from the manufacturing and retail groups are recycled or beneficially reused.

In operations, Bridgestone embraces new technologies. Clean, efficient hydrogen fuel cells power material movers at our tire plants in Warren County, Tenn., and Aiken County, S.C. We reduce our energy consumption by using low energy lighting and high efficiency fans in our plants. Through energy savings measures in our plants, the company saved $2.8 million in 2010 alone and continues to reduce greenhouse gasses on our way to achieving a 25% reduction by 2020.

Since 2005, we’ve reduced waste per ton of product by 40%. We’ve increased waste recycled per ton by 25%. No scrap tires from our manufacturing facilities go to the landfill — they are all beneficially reused. All Bridgestone Americas manufacturing facilities are ISO 14001 certified. Also, the new Akron, Ohio, Technical Center is being built to gold-level LEED certification.

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Related Topics: Bridgestone, Cooper, Federal, GITI, Going green, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, Toyo, Yokohama

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