GREENSBURG — On the south side of Honda’s auto plant in Greensburg, hundreds of plastic tubes protect vulnerable saplings that the company has planted to create a conservation area.
About 2,500 saplings were planted, representing about 20 varieties, from Sycamores to Black Walnuts, chosen with the help from state experts. The company envisions that some day, the creek will flow through a small forest.
A few hundred yards away, an earthen berm, with more trees planted on top, prevents neighbors’ views of the rural scenery from being interrupted by an industrial plant.
Inside the plant, the company’s environmental efforts include collecting scrap from injection molding and placing it back into the process to reduce waste. Styrofoam that wraps engines that are shipped to the plant from Japan is compacted to 70 times its normal density and sent to plastics recycling. In another part of the plant, a regenerative thermal oxidizer burns off paint fumes to reduce emissions. That process generates heat, which is used to heat the plant.
Honda’s commitment to environmental sustainability helps the company reduce costs and reinforces its reputation as a good neighbor. It also helps the company attract and retain employees.
And for the third consecutive year, the Honda plant in Greensburg recently received the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification for 2014, identifying the local operation among the 25 percent most energy efficient plants among its peers.
The program aims to encourage people to reduce energy inefficiencies, according to the EPA’s website. Up to 30 percent or more of energy consumption is wasted, which contributes to the unnecessary burning of fossil fuels and climate change.
Jeff Loeffler, the Honda plant’s environmental lead, said that company leaders expect that each plant and each employee acts as a good steward of the environment.
“We want to be a company that society wants to exist,” Loeffler said.
Much like its approach to continuously improving its production processes, Loeffler said the company expects employees to generate ideas to reduce its environmental footprint.
Barrels placed throughout the plant entice employees to collect paper, plastic and metals. Loeffler said that 90 percent of the plant’s waste is recycled.
The company has reduced the number and intensity of inefficient lights hanging from the plant’s high ceiling and instead has installed more “task lighting” that places the light directly where employees need it. It benefits employees, Loeffler said, and reduces energy costs. The plant annually consumes about 100,000 megawatt hours of electricity, or as much as 10,000 homes.
In the last year, the company also placed a strong emphasis on reducing energy usage, especially during non-production times, Loeffler said. The plant’s departments set targets to stay below their historical energy consumption. A website allows the departments to see how they are performing. The company plans to roll out a similar effort for natural gas usage.
Production of cars, meanwhile continues without interruption. Every 52 seconds, a car rolls off the line. Every car is driven on a test track next to the plant. Then 75 percent of the vehicles leave on trains, the remainder on trucks.
Recently the company reduced its discharge of nickel and other metals into the wastewater by 50 percent through minor changes, such as not mixing certain waters together, Loeffler said. That reduction was achieved through cooperation between the paint and water treatment departments. Cooperation among the employees and departments is critical to the continuous improvement process, both for the production of vehicles and environmental stewardship, he said.
Honda has taken other actions that cost money but do not generate an immediate, measurable return: Near the main plant, the company is storing gasoline, diesel, oil and other substances in above-ground tanks. Installing the tanks above the ground and maintaining and monitoring them was more expensive than installing them underground, Loeffler said, but if a leak occurs, it can be detected and stopped much more easily than if the tanks were buried.
Around the plant, Honda has installed seven lakes to control runoff and to prevent any flooding from reaching neighboring properties. While city ordinance requires that new developments do not worsen flooding elsewhere, Honda spokeswoman Anita Sipes said the company also intended to establish an environment that would attract wildlife, including migratory water fowl. During spring and fall, lots of birds flock to the Honda property. A pair of eagles can be seen circling and resting on the property year-round, she said.
Loeffler said that he also serves as an example of how the company’s commitment to environmental stewardship enables it to attract and retain employees.
He said that one of the things that attracted him to join Honda was that the corporation understands the importance of sustainability. In the 30 years in which he has worked in his profession, a lot has changed, he said.