Aiken County (S.C.) Off Road Tire Plant Achieves LEED Green Building Certification

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 14, 2019, /3BL Media/ ― Bridgestone Americas, Inc., (Bridgestone), a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tire and rubber company, today announced that its Aiken County Off-Road Tire Plant (Aiken ORR), located in Trenton, South Carolina, has been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED recognizes buildings that are designed, constructed, and operated for improved energy, environmental, and human health performance.

LEED is the world’s most widely used green building program with more than 94,000 registered and certified projects in 167  countries and territories. “LEED certification identifies the Aiken County Off-Road Tire Plant of Bridgestone Americas, Inc. as a  showcase example of sustainability and demonstrates your leadership in transforming the building industry,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC.

“Aiken ORR’s LEED certification is further recognition of our innate culture to pursue fully sustainable operations and help ensure a healthy environment for current and future generations,” said Jim DeMouy, vice president, Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability, Bridgestone Americas. “This plant’s commitment to environmentally sustainable practices epitomizes our entire company’s global corporate social responsibility commitment, Our Way to Serve.”

Aiken ORR achieved LEED certification for implementing sustainable solutions aimed at achieving high energy and environmental performance. More notable achievements include initial site location selection, preferential use of local and more sustainable materials, finding beneficial reuse opportunities for 92% of the construction debris and 100% of the manufacturing discarded materials, and using Firestone Building Products (FSBP) pond liner to create a rainwater harvesting system that captures and uses
roof runoff water. As a great corporate citizen, the Aiken ORR plant conducts neighborhood roadside cleanups, manages its site to restore the Longleaf Pine Savannah Habitat, and provides onsite STEM education for school children through Bridgestone Environmental Education Program (BEEP).

Bridgestone built its first giant off-road radial tire manufacturing plant in North America in Trenton, South Carolina. The 1.5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility employs 450 people and began production of large and ultra-large mining and heavy equipment radial tires in 2014. Tires produced at this plant equip heavy haul trucks that carry enormous loads in mining and aggregates applications. Bridgestone also operates the Aiken County Passenger/Light Truck Radial Tire Plant in Graniteville, South Carolina,
producing passenger and light truck tires for original equipment manufacturers and retail since 1998.

In total, Bridgestone has eight LEED-certified locations including both South Carolina tire plants and another one of its manufacturing plants in Warren County, Tenn. The Warren County tire manufacturing plant began operations in 1990 and first earned the LEED certification in 2008, becoming the first tire plant globally to achieve this designation.

For more information regarding the Aiken ORR LEED certification and scoring, please visit www.usgbc.org.   About Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations
  Nashville, Tennessee-based Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is a business unit of Bridgestone Americas, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. Reporting into the BATO business unit are the company's Latin American tire operations; the U.S. and Canadian consumer tire businesses; the U.S. and Canadian commercial tire businesses; and Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, which operates the largest network of company-owned automotive service providers in the world. BATO develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires. The business unit is focused on retail, wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off road, motorcycle, agricultural and other tires, as well as retreads, to its customers in the Americas.