You both have similar titles. What’s the difference in your jobs?

Tim Bent: “My work involves coordinating the environmental affairs of all Bridgestone/Firestone Americas subsidiaries, which make and sell tires, retreads, synthetic rubber, fabrics, building products and industrial products, as well as managing ‘legacy’ cleanup issues.”

Greer Tidwell: “My responsibilities include
environmental management for the company’s tire manufacturing operations, including passenger car, truck, agricultural and off-road tires.” Are environmental concerns a new thing for Bridgestone/Firestone?

Bent: “No, they’re not. As a company, we’ve always been working to reduce the impact we have on our environment. For example, we set a goal – in 1998 – to achieve ISO 14001 certification as soon as possible, ideally by the year 2000.”

What’s ISO 14001?

Tidwell: “ISO 14001 is an international standard for environmental practices by manufacturing operations. In order to receive ISO 14001 certification, an organization must meet stringent requirements and continue to improve.”

Bent: “Basically, what it means is that you must have a detailed, written plan, and that you must have methods for assuring that you are following your plan. “By 2000, we succeeded in getting every major manufacturing operation ISO 14001 certified, and had 25 out of 27 of our plants fully certified.”

[below] The asphalt on which these gentlemen are standing is part of Tennessee state highway 41, north of Nashville. It has been enhanced by the addition of recycled rubber from tires.

Pictured from left to right Greg Morris, senior environmental engineer at Bridgestone/Firestone’s Lavergne, Tennessee plant. Greer Tidwell, director of environmental management for Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LL manufacturing operations: Greer has degrees in civil engineering and environmental sciences and also earned a law degree at Vanderbilt University. He has been general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, president of the Tennessee Conservation League, and is an appointee to several environmental boards and councils within the state of Tennessee. Tim Bent, director of environmental affairs for all Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding, Inc. operations: Tim is a Certified Professional Geoscientist with B.S. degrees in geology and conservation and an M.S. in geology from Oklahoma State University. He has provided environmental consulting to many industry sectors, was chairman of the Scrap Tire Management Council, and is active in RMA’s Environment and Resource Recovery Committee and the Wildlife Habitat Council. Sean Fisher, senior environmental engineer at Bridgestone/Firestone’s Warren County, Tennessee plant.

• to identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products or services (which it can control or have an influence on).
• to determine those which have or can have significant impacts on the environment.
  
• to ensure the aspects related to these significant impacts are considered in setting its environmental objectives.
  

Does it end there?

Tidwell: “ISO 14001 is ongoing, and we continually look for ways to improve our environmental practices. And we routinely have visits from members of the certification organization to make sure we continue to meet standards and follow our plan.”

How does Bridgestone/Firestone compare to other tire companies in this area?

Tidwell: “We’re proud to say that we were first among the major tire companies to achieve ISO 14001 certification. We’re also the only tire company to be part of the National Environmental Performance Track, a program of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.”

Have you received recognition from other organizations?

Bent: “Twice in a row, Bridgestone/Firestone was ranked number one in the U.S. tire industry by the Council on Economic Priorities for our environmental efforts.



“And, we’ve twice received the ‘Environmental Recognition Award’ from Honda, one of our major
customers. This award is given for achieving goals in pollution prevention, energy reduction and conservation of natural resources. We’re the only tire company to ever receive it. We’ve also been recognized by several States and other environmental organizations.”

Bridgestone/Firestone won governor’s awards for excellence in hazardous waste management in both 1995 and in 1999.

What kinds of things are you doing?

Bent: “There are many programs, but a few examples will probably get the idea across. “A key issue is pollution prevention. One of the things we have done is to successfully convert many of the cements we use from types that contain volatile organic hydrocarbon solvents to ones that are water-based. “As a result, we’ve cut certain air pollutants by over 90 percent.”

Tidwell: “In addition, we looked hard at the cements we were using, and discovered that with some changes in procedure, we could eliminate a lot of waste. “That not only reduces pollutants, but actually saves us money.”

So there’s an economic benefit?

Bent: “A significant one. For example, in applying for one Honda Green Partner award, we documented the savings of about 20 million pounds of materials that we are now reusing or recycling – but used to be wasted. “Besides saving money, that also conserves natural resources and extends the life of landfills.

“In addition, we’ve cut our waste by over 20,000 pounds. For example, we’ve switched to low-mercury fluorescent lights, which decrease that pollutant.”

Tidwell: “We’re also reducing energy consumption, through state-of-the-art control equipment. And many of these activities cross categories: anything that reduces waste will probably also cut costs as well as reduce pollutants, while conserving natural resources. “By changing part of our air conditioning system at the Lavergne, Tennessee plant, for example, we cut use of CFC refrigerant, a serious pollutant, by 88 percent. And that saves us a great deal on refrigerant cost, maintenance, disposal and record keeping.”

Who’s responsible for these activities at the plants?

Bent: “Each plant has an environmental manager; but we have found the best way to make this work is to integrate environmental management throughout the business structure. “For example, in each plant, our environmental professionals are generally part of the engineering group. And, we make an effort to involve every single employee in environmental issues. Everyone and every task needs to be involved.”

How is that done?

Tidwell: “For one thing, we created newsletters at our plants in Lavergne and Warren County, Tennessee. The Warren newsletter is called The Green Scene and the one at Lavergne is called The Tree Hugger.

“These are produced by the plants themselves, and keep employees informed about our environmental efforts and what they can do to help.”

Do employees really care about these things?

Bent: “They do. It’s easy to think employees just find these things to be extra work, but the fact is, as citizens of their communities, they’re concerned about the environmental impact of the companies they work for – and the others in their neighborhoods. “They also have friends, neighbors and relatives, and it’s nice for them to be able to share with them what they and their company are doing to protect the environment. It’s really great for them to know that their efforts benefit not only the environment, but the company and its customers as well.”

Are you sharing environmental ideas among plants?

Tidwell: “We certainly are. In fact, we even created a special company Intranet that allows our people to share what they’ve learned with each other.“We believe we have the very best environmental professionals in the business in our plants. And we believe that each of them is part of a team working to help the whole group of plants improve.”

How do customers benefit from these environmental efforts?

Tidwell: “As we said, anything that reduces pollution and conserves energy and natural resources can help Bridgestone/Firestone save money. The more we do that, the less often we have to raise prices. “And, as the Council on Economic Priorities pointed out, good environmental practices cut costs, increase revenues, increase productivity, improve product quality, reduce risk and enhance a company’s reputation. All of those things – directly or indirectly – benefit our customers.”

Rubber dock bumpers and wheel chocks are typical of the many items that can be economically made from recycled rubber tires.

What can we truck tire customers do to help?

Bent: “One of the most valuable things you can do is take care of your tires. Studies have proven that the environmental impact of making a tire and scrapping a tire are both smaller than the environmental impact of using a tire. “That means you the user have the biggest opportunity to reduce negative effects of tires on our environment – by taking care of them properly.”

Tidwell: “Underinflation is the worst culprit. It makes tires wear out too fast, wastes fuel and reduces the ability of tires to be retreaded (that’s a form of recycling). It adds waste to our landfills an makes driving more dangerous – by reducing traction. “And, of course, it’s an easy problem to solve. “The other thing you can do is make sure that when your tires are finally ready to be scrapped, they go to a good use.”

What do you mean by that?

Bent: “We’ve made great strides in recycling tires. Today, tires are one of the most recycled consumer products, with over 75 percent of them being reused or recycled, instead of disposed in landfills. That’s up from just 11 percent in 1990. “That’s a huge improvement, which was really helped by the Rubber Manufacturers’ Association’s Scrap Tire Management Committee and many private companies.”

Tidwell: “The important thing is that while the environment may not be number one on your business priority list, you need to make sure it’s always on your priority list.
That way, you can take advantage of opportunities as they come along. “We know that you, your employees and your customers do care about the environment. In the long run, behaving in an environmentally responsible manner saves us all money, while preserving what we have for the future. “The environment is not the enemy. It’s where we all live.”

This pond, one of two at the Warren County, Tennessee plant, collects stormwater runoff and provides a habitat for local wildlife.