Zero is important at Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia, LLC (YTMV), especially when it comes to waste. The Salem, Va., facility has become the latest Yokohama manufacturing plant to be a zero landfill operation.

According to Neil Dalton, Yokohama Corporation of North America director of environmental health and safety, “all waste generated at YTMV now goes to non-landfill options such as recycling, reuse or energy recovery.”

To successfully achieve zero-waste-to-landfill status, YTMV had strategically put in processes and practices that deliberately and significantly reduced waste. “In order to be a zero landfill plant, it was important to understand as a company that you can’t throw anything away because there simply is no ‘away,’” said Dalton.

By the beginning of 2015, the landfill waste output from YTMV was down to two percent of all waste generated, and as of September, the facility reached the zero level.

“Our efforts to fulfill our social corporate responsibility of green sustainability begin with our core business of developing products and operating plants that minimize environmental impact,” said Tetsuro (Tex) Murakami, YTMV president.

The zero landfill initiative is part of an ongoing global environmental mandate from The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (YRC), YTMV’s parent company in Japan. It stems from YRC’s ‘Grand Design 100 Plan (GD100), which sets standards for Yokohama to harmonize its company-wide operations in everything from manufacturing to product design with the environment.

In March, YTMV received the 2015 Environmental Warrior Award from the Virginia Water Environment Association (VWEA). The award was bestowed upon the facility as part of VWEA’s 2015 Industrial Waste and Pretreatment Environmental Excellence Awards Program.

In 2014, YTMV was appointed into the Virginia Environmental Excellence Program (VEEP) with an E4 status, the highest status rating awarded by the program. YTMV also received ISO 14001 certification for environmental management systems in 2007 and has continued to promote environmental protection and conservation in all its activities.  

Yokohama Tire Corporation (YTC) and Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia, LLC (YTMV) are part of Yokohama Corporation of North America (YCNA), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. (YRC), a global manufacturing and sales company of premium tires since 1917. YCNA oversees all Yokohama-related operations in North America, including sales and marketing, manufacturing, technical development, long-term corporate planning and investment. YTC services an extensive sales network throughout the U.S., and is a leader in technology and innovation. The company’s complete product line includes tires for high-performance, light truck, passenger car, commercial truck and bus, and off-the-road mining and construction applications. For more information on Yokohama’s broad product line, visit www.yokohamatire.com or www.yokohamatruck.com.