Toyota has won the 2011 Green Manufacturing Award in recognition of its environmental standards within its European operations.
The award comes from management company the World Trade Group, which examined performance within areas such as maximising energy efficiency, water usage and treatment, compliance with environmental regulations and waste reduction from production process.
Central to Toyota’s European operations are its two plants in the UK; one in Deeside and the other in Burnaston in Derbyshire. The Burnaston car plant in Derbyshire is one of the car maker’s recognised ‘Sustainable Plants’ with a focus on leading the way in cleaner, more efficient production and the harnessing of sustainable energy sources.
Toyota’s achievements in the UK include eliminating landfill and incinerated waste and significantly reducing the amount of energy and water required to build each vehicle. Earlier this year Burnaston achieved another UK industry-first in switching on a vast solar panel array, capable of capturing up to 4.6 million kWh of sustainable energy every year – enough to build around 7,000 cars.
The award was accepted at the fifth annual Strategic Manufacturing Awards ceremony in Düsseldorf, by Steve Hope, Toyota’s General Manager of Plant Engineering and Safety. He said: “This award recognises the tremendous efforts by the members at all of our European Manufacturing facilities who continuously improve, and apply their knowledge of and expertise in the Toyota Production System to their daily activities.”
Between 2001 and 2009, Toyota reduced the consolidated impact of each vehicle built in Europe by 40 per cent in terms of energy use; 38 per cent in waste produced; 51 per cent in the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); and 44 per cent in water usage.
