Yokohama plant wins environmental award

March 30, 2015

Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia LLC (YTMV) has received the first Environmental Warrior Award from the Virginia Water Environment Association (VWEA). The award was given to the Salem, Va., facility as part of VWEA’s 2015 Industrial Waste and Pretreatment Environmental Excellence Awards Program.

The award recognizes the company that's made the greatest improvement in their environmental compliance program, according to the VWEA. The award was presented to Tetsuro “Tex” Murakami, YTMV president, at a ceremony March 3 in Charlottesville, Va.

“It is a great honor for YTMV to be the first recipient of the VWEA’s new Environmental Warrior Award,” said Murakami. “Going forward, all of us at the company will not rest on this laurel but will relentlessly endeavor to protect and improve the local environment in our business and other activities.”

The VWEA is a nonprofit organization established in 1947 to protect the water resources of the State of Virginia. Its members include citizens, environmentalists and state government employees from across the state.  

YTMV earned the Environmental Warrior Award thanks to its achievement in complying with industrial water treatment regulations, as well as its environmental conservation efforts over the years. YTMV succeeded in lowering its industrial waste emissions by 45% from 2012 to 2014, and as of the end of December 2014 it had lowered the percent of waste sent to landfills to 2.5 percent.

YTMV is targeting a 0% landfill ratio in 2015. Also in 2014, YTMV was accepted into the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP) with an E4 status, the highest status rating awarded by the program.

YTMV received ISO 14001 certification for environmental management systems in 2007 and has continued to promote environmental protection and conservation in all its activities.  

Murakami said YTMV will continue its efforts to improve energy efficiency, water resource management, chemical management and environmental awareness among its employees.

Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiaries of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. For more information on Yokohama’s product line, visit www.yokohamatire.com.

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