CertainTeed Roofing in Ennis takes top sustainability honors
Saint-Gobain, one of the world's largest building materials companies, announced the winners of its sustainability awards program, which recognizes company locations across North America for their sustainability efforts, on Nov. 28 and an Ennis-based location took top honors. The award announcement added that the winning sites were recognized at a companywide sustainability conference this fall.
According to the Saint-Gobain award release, CertainTeed Roofing in Ennis was the recipient of the Overall Champion Belt for being a finalist in all four sustainability categories due to a broad and extensive focus on its impacts inside and outside of its plant. For water, waste, energy and CO2 emissions, the team undertook a multitude of projects including a LED retrofit, a program to recycle used wood pallets, and a system that resulted in the reuse of 50 percent of process cooling water.
"This program is unique because it encourages some fun internal competition in a way not seen before in the industry," said Ryan Spies, Manager-Process Sustainability & Energy of Saint-Gobain Corporation. "There's nothing quite like a plant manager holding up a 20-pound, custom-designed, bejeweled belt for all his or her plant to see and then having to defend that belt next year."
"Saint-Gobain's commitment to sustainability compels us to consider the environmental impact of our business at every stage, from product design to product disposal at the end of life," said John Crowe, President and CEO of Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed Corporations. "As a company, we realize it is the aggregate of efforts made by our approximately 14,000 employees that will allow us to reach our ambitious targets for waste, water, energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction, and we believe recognizing sites for their world-class programs will advance achievement across our portfolio."
The program - referred to as the Waste, Water and Energy Program - was established in 2016 by the Saint-Gobain Environmental, Health and Safety Department and is designed to highlight practical and efficient solutions for increasing the sustainability of sites.
"Many of the champions were selected based on their commitment to improvement and the systems they put in place to achieve it, not simply one-time projects," said Lauren Alterman, Vice President-Environmental, Health and Safety of Saint-Gobain Corporation. "Our plants take incredible sustainability measures every day, and it's exciting to be able to review all the efforts collectively and celebrate the biggest achievements with such a fun competition."
