Introduction
Resource Conservation and Emissions Reduction
Welcome to the Operations section of the Bridgestone Americas Environmental report. The purpose of this section is to provide a closer look at the many activities our manufacturing facilities are doing to operate more efficiently, reduce environmental impact, and adopt innovative processes that provide better, safer, and efficient products for our customers. We are proud of the continued progress in our operational performance and pleased to share our story with you.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies. The work of preparing international standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. The scope of the ISO 14001 international standard includes specifications for:
- Requirements for an Environmental Management System (EMS)
- Environmental policy and objectives formation
- Taking into account legal and other requirements and significant environmental impacts
- Applies to significant environmental aspects that
- The organization can control and
- Which it can be expected to have influence
The ISO 14001 international standard is based upon the methodology known as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). PDCA can be briefly described as follows:
- Plan: Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver the results in accordance with the organization’s environmental policy.
- Do: Implement the process.
- Check: Monitor and measure processes against environmental policy, objectives, targets, legal and other requirements, and report the results.
- Act: Take actions to continually improve the performance of the EMS.
ISO 14001 certification continues to provide a framework for EMS implementation at Bridgestone Americas manufacturing facilities and maintaining ISO 14001 certification remains a key management objective. ISO 14001 helps ensure that all teammates recognize their environmental management responsibilities, not just those with “Environmental” in their title.
Bridgestone Americas requires all manufacturing facilities to obtain ISO 14001 certification within 2 years of our ownership. Currently 47 BSA manufacturing facilities are certified.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
In 1998, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated. Over the past twelve years, Leed has become the international standard for green building certification systems. The LEED system provides trusted third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
LEED points are awarded on a 100 point scale and credits are weighted to reflect their potential environmental impacts. Additionally, 10 bonus credits are available, four of which address regionally specific environmental issues. A project must satisfy all prerequisites and earn a minimum number of points to be certified.
Since November, 2008, the Warren County, Tennessee tire manufacturing plant and the Aiken, South Carolina tire manufacturing plant both completed the LEED process. Not only did they both become the first two tire manufacturing plants in the world to attain LEED certification, they both attained the Silver level of certification.
To read more about these two manufacturing leaders, please follow these links:
http://www.bridgestoneamericas.com/news/index_enviro_news.asp?id=2008/081117b
The LEED program fits naturally into Bridgestone Americas’ environmental philosophy, which includes a policy of high standards and continuous improvement in minimizing our footprint on the natural world. We focus on minimizing waste, emissions, and energy use, while also seeking opportunities to improve the environment in our communities. Key indicators of environmental footprint are:
- Total Waste (amounts recycled and discharged)
- Water usage and waste water
- Energy usage and CO2 emissions
We measure each of these indicators against our total production, i.e. we take the total amount per indicator and divide by total production. Thus, we strive to lower the numerator (e.g. total waste) and increase the denominator (i.e. total product generated that year). The lower the ratio, the better.
We are proud to say that since we began systematically recording company-wide data in 2002, we have significantly reduced these footprint measures for each unit of production. We did experience a noticeable uptick in each of our key indicator ratios in 2009. This is due to the significant downturn in the U.S. economy, which led to a significant downturn in our production along with a slight decrease in our waste stream, water usage, and energy usage. In other words, improved levels of natural resource efficiency is more difficult to attain during times when we are not manufacturing at all full production rates.
Bridgestone Americas family of companies is focused on reducing waste from all sources. Reduction of waste can be accomplished by increasing the amount of waste that is recycled, i.e. using it again for another purpose, and by decreasing the amount of waste that is discharged.
By establishing the amount of waste recycled and waste discharged in 2004 as a baseline value of “100”, we can easily view the downward trend for the subsequent years. Figure 1 below demonstrates that Bridgestone Americas both has decreased the amount of waste discharged and increased the amount of waste that is recycled. The overall result is a downward trend in the amount of total waste.
Bridgestone Americas facilities also strive to reduce the amount of water used in manufacturing processes as well as the amount of waste water discharged.
Between the years 2004 and 2009, overall water usage in manufacturing has decreased each year. By establishing the total water usage per production in 2004 as a baseline value of “100”, we can easily track the downward trend for the subsequent years.
Between the years of 2004 and 2009, less waste water was discharged from manufacturing activities. By establishing the total waste water volume per production in 2004 as a baseline value of “100”, we can easily track the downward trend for the subsequent years.
An example of creativity in water conservation is the floor scrubbing water recycling system at the Warren County, TN, tire plant, which reuses water up to three times. This system has cut soap usage in half and allows for the recycling of 2,000 - 4,000 gallons of water per month. Continuous improvement projects like this help drive year-to-year savings of thousands of dollars in resource costs, while reducing the burden on publicly-owned wastewater treatment plants and streams.
Bridgestone Americas has long recognized that every bit of energy saved benefits the bottom line for both our company and our communities by saving money, reducing emissions and reducing the burden on the power infrastructure and scarce natural resources.
As compared to 2004 levels, Bridgestone Americas’ products required about 8% less energy to produce in 2008, as illustrated by Figure 4 below. The search for improvements in energy efficiency is never-ending for Bridgestone Americas - it's just the right thing to do.
Bridgestone Americas teammates focus on energy efficiency by tracking all forms of energy use in manufacturing, warehousing, retail stores, owned distribution fleets, and office buildings.
Improved energy efficiency, and the resultant carbon dioxide emissions have decreased since 2004. By establishing the CO2 emissions per production in 2004 as a baseline value of “100”, we can easily view the year-to-year trends in emissions.
Examples of individual Bridgestone Americas plants' efforts to reduce net carbon footprint are too numerous to list here. However, one exceptional example is the Aiken, SC tire plant's use of hydrogen fuel cells in their forklifts. The plant exchanged 23 forklifts in 2008 and exchanged 20 more in 2009 to create an all-hydrogen fleet. The fuel cells are a direct replacement that last longer than batteries, save time by refueling instead of recharging, and eliminate CO2 emissions by using hydrogen fuel instead of electricity.
Energy efficiency and continuous improvement is nothing new for Bridgestone Americas. For example, our plants are now about twice as efficient and our tires now last 4 times as long as they did in 1975. Translating these improvements into energy savings, the average American house could run for about 17 days just from the energy savings achieved in producing 1 set of tires as compared to 1975 rates.
