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Major Institutions Make Plans to Go ‘Green’: New U.S. EPA Performance Track members include Frito-Lay, Toyota

Release Date: 02/25/2008
Contact Information: Lisa Fasano 415-947-4307

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has welcomed five new facilities in California and Nevada into the National Environmental Performance Track Program. Performance Track is a U.S. EPA partnership that recognizes top environmental performance among participating U.S. facilities of all types, sizes, and complexity.

“Companies who invest in environmental improvements quickly see improvement in their bottom line as well,” said Wayne Nastri, Administrator for EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region. “The EPA commends these facilities for their leadership in going beyond environmental compliance towards better environmental performance.”

The Performance Track program recognizes facilities that have a strong record of environmental compliance, set three-year goals for continuous improvements in environmental performance beyond their legal requirements, have internal systems in place to manage their environmental impacts, engage in community outreach and publicly report results.

Members typically set four beyond-compliance goals or two for small facilities. In the Pacific Southwest, five of the new members have committed to energy conservation measures, four have committed to waste diversion efforts, five pledge to reduce their water consumption, and three facilities plan to reduce their hazardous waste generation. The following are examples of some of the facilities’ goals in these and other areas:

· Baxter Hayward, in Hayward, Calif., produces antibodies and medical devices, and plans to reduce its hazardous waste by 1,253 lbs, or 11 percent.
· Frito Lay, Inc., based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. makes corn-based snacks, such as Doritos, and aims to roll back its water use by over 17 million gallons, or 15 percent.
· Nellis Air Force Base, in Nevada, provides combat training and personnel support, and plans to slash its energy use by 46 percent, which will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, or 18-thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions.
· Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., operated by Lockheed Martin, conducts research and testing of military defense systems, and plans to reduce water use by more than 4 million gallons, or 6 percent.
· TABC, Inc. (Toyota), in Long Beach, Calif. engages in light-truck assembly, and intends to eliminate over 1500 lbs, or 20 percent, of volatile organic compounds from its operations.

Nationwide, the EPA welcomed 42 new facilities into the Performance Track ranks, totaling nearly 540 members in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Since the 2000 inception of this facility-based program, Performance Track membership has grown to 62 members in the Pacific Southwest and those members have made commitments to benefit the environment in both regulated and unregulated areas.

To date, Performance Track members have collectively reported greenhouse gas reductions of 310,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, reductions in nitrogen oxides of 13,000 tons, reductions of hazardous waste of 52,000 tons and other accomplishments.

Performance Track members come from a wide range of industries, such as electronics, construction, chemicals manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and government agencies. Information on the new Performance Track members is available at: https://www.epa.gov/performancetrack/round15PTFacilities.htm

The next round of applications to the program will be accepted April 1 through May 31. Information on criteria and how to apply is available at the following website: https://www.epa.gov/region09/performancetrack