Bridgestone Americas Inc.'s Warren County, Tenn., truck tire manufacturing plant has earned LEED v3 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) recertification at the Silver level by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
The Warren County facility, which began operations in 1990, first earned LEED v2 certification in 2008. According to Bridgestone, the plant is one of only three manufacturing projects in the world to achieve LEED certification for “Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance 2009.”
“The achievement truly underscores Bridgestone’s global commitment to sustainable business practices and demonstrates the environmental mission of our One Team, One Planet platform," says Tim Bent, director of environmental affairs. "The Warren County plant is leading the way for other Bridgestone facilities which are actively adopting similar sustainability efforts throughout the U.S. and abroad.”
To achieve recertification under the more stringent LEED v3 program, the Warren County facility implemented many sustainable initiatives that yielded significant results, including:
* installing plumbing fixtures and potable water efficiency measures, which reduced plant personnel water use by 42.7% versus baseline. (The baseline was calculated based on the minimum required flush and flow rates per the 2006 International Plumbing Code. Per the LEED EB: O+M Reference Guide, a baseline multiplier of 120% was applied to the calculated flow rates since the facility was substantially completed after 1993.)
* planting water-efficient, native species landscaping, which reduced irrigation water consumption by 93% versus baseline while improving wildlife habitat.
* optimizing energy efficiency. The result was a 31% more efficient operation compared to the median performance of similar Bridgestone tire manufacturing facilities.
* protecting and restoring wildlife habitats; 79% of the plant site is covered by vegetation and 75% is a certified wildlife habitat area.
In addition, Bridgestone uses sustainable cleaning products throughout the plant.
The plant manufactures 9,000 Bridgestone and Firestone truck and bus tires per day and employs 990 people. The facility also has been recognized as an OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star site, meaning it has excellent safety and health management systems and injury rates that are below the industry's national average.
For additional information about Bridgestone’s One Team, One Planet environmental activities, or the company’s environmental mission, visit BridgestoneAmericas.com.
