Cooper tire plant earns environmental award

May 13, 2015

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s Tupelo, Miss., consumer tire plant has earned the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) enHance Partnership Award for 2015. The enHance program is a voluntary stewardship initiative that recognizes facilities and municipalities for putting in place environmental initiatives beyond those that are required.

"Cooper's environmental policy commits our plant to using energy and natural resources efficiently, reducing waste, preventing pollution and acting as a good corporate citizen through the use of good environmental practices," says John Swartzendruber, environmental coordinator at the Tupelo plant.

"This has been the practice at the Tupelo facility since we began operations in 1984, so it seemed a natural extension of this commitment to take up MDEQ's challenge to demonstrate our dedication to environmental excellence by seeking membership in the enHance environmental stewardship initiative."

Cooper’s Tupelo plant has achieved significant ongoing environmental improvements including:

* reducing the amount of waste going to landfills by 34%;

* reducing reduced solvent use by 30%.

Cooper also holds workshops at enHance annual training conferences, with Cooper’s presentations incorporated into enHance Resources for Manufacturing, available on the organization’s website at www.enhance.ms.

The Tupelo plant is certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001, which sets out the criteria for an environmental management system and maps a framework that companies can follow to demonstrate their environmental impact is being measured and improved. The Tupelo plant has put in place strong, formal sustainability programs that have produced significant positive results.

Cooper was also the first Mississippi company to carry out an E3 (for Economy, Energy and Environment) assessment, with the company’s Clarksdale facility serving as the pilot for the E3 program in Mississippi. E3 is a coordinated federal and local technical assistance framework that helps communities work with their manufacturing base to adapt and thrive in a new business era focused on sustainability. E3 provides manufacturers with customized, hands-on assessments of production processes to reduce energy consumption, minimize their carbon footprint, prevent pollution, increase productivity, and drive innovation.

According to Modern Tire Dealer's 2015 Facts Issue, the Tupelo plant has the capacity to produce 42,000 passenger tires a day.

For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

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