Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Virginia LLC (YTMV), a manufacturer of passenger car and light truck tyres in Salem, Virginia, has become a zero landfill operation as of September 2015.
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 has strategically put in processes and practices that deliberately and significantly reduce 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.
As of the start of 2015, YTMV had reduced its landfill waste output to two percent of all waste generated, and the facility reached the zero level in September. As noted by YTMV President Tetsuro (Tex) Murakami, “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.”
The zero landfill initiative is part of Yokohama Rubber’s ongoing global environmental mandate, set forth in the Company’s “medium-term management plan: Grand Design 100,” which sets standards for harmonizing company-wide operations – from manufacturing to product design – with the environment.