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The shining example of Toyota's environmental stewardship

Few companies have made further progress in not only complying with higher CAFE requirements, but also in reducing the energy used to manufacture vehicles, greenhouse emissions from facilities and even the waste materials produced in the process as Toyota in North America.
Posted: December 4, 2012 - 3:09PM
Author: Don Bain
An infographic from the 2012 North American Environmental Report. Image courtesy

Outlined in the 2012 North American Environmental Report, the company has achieved remarkable progress in the pursuit of sustainable manufacturing practices and environmental stewardship throughout the continent, including research and development, manufacturing, logistics and sales operations.

“Toyota believes sustainable operations go hand-in-hand with our core values of quality, innovation and good corporate citizenship,” said Dian Ogilvie, senior vice president and secretary, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. “We are committed to continuous improvement and finding creative ways to address the challenges of climate change and resource scarcity with dedicated leadership and the help of our partners.”

Among the highlighted accomplishments last year, 10 Toyota plants sent absolutely no waste materials to landfills.

In our report we characterize zero waste to landfill as no waste sent directly to landfill, wrote Cindy Knight, Public Affairs Manager,
Environmental, Safety and Quality Communications for Toyota. “It doesn't count materials diverted to waste-to- energy facilities, and therefore doesn't count the ash by-product of either waste to energy systems or just plain incineration.”

Can you even imagine arranging your own life to produce absolutely nothing to put in the dumpster?

Further, the amount of greenhouse emissions produced per car fleet-wide has been lowered by seven percent while the energy used to fabricate the same vehicles has dropped by 15 percent.

In addition, over 600 of the brand’s suppliers, along with 41 Toyota sites, have been internationally certified for environmental management systems.

Within the communities those plants inhabit, Toyota has sponsored over 900 volunteer events via Together Green, the brand’s partnership wit the National Audubon Society.

These highlights follow the release of the new Prius c and Prius Plug-in, not to mention the all-electric 2013 RAV4 EV co-developed with Tesla.

Toyota seems to be blazing a trail towards the greening of the Americas – and it’s a shining example of what that means.

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