TAFF Awards 2011 Preview: Environment Award

A big surprise in this category, with none of last year's finalists making it through to the shortlist. In the past the finalists have tended to be waste collection companies or retreaders and this year we have one of each – Vellco Tyre Control and Bandvulc Tyres. The remaining three are all new tyre manufacturers: Continental, Michelin (both picking up their third nominations in this year's TAFF Awards) and Yokohama HPT.

Bandvulc Tyres

Now in its 40th year, Bandvulc has built its success on producing high quality, recycled products that have proven to be of great benefit to its customers and the environment.

With every retreaded truck tyre saving 68 litres of oil, 44 kg of rubber and 182.24kg of CO2, customers not only gain significant financial savings but also achieve an environmentally sustainable tyre solution.

From inception Bandvulc has been committed to innovation; the recent introduction is the Dynamic, a new generation of low rolling resistance tyres which, in independent trials, show a reduction in fuel consumption of at least five per cent. Alongside industry leading products and services Bandvulc also prides itself in the way it manufactures and operates. New machinery is not only prioritised by technical ability but also environmental impact. Existing machinery and production processes have also been enhanced to reduce energy consumption and to further improve the working environment. It continues to strive for sustainability in all areas through minimising/recycling waste to reducing energy consumption. The latter of these is achieved through the measuring, monitoring and managing of gas, electricity and water.

With an annual diesel cost for Bandvulc’s fleet of 25 HGVs totalling more than the combined cost of electricity, gas and water for its operations, these vehicles have been subjected to the same environmental scrutiny. Areas of improvement include: re-routing, equipment, driver training, tyre pressure monitoring and the fitting of the Dynamic tyre range. This has resulted in a total fuel saving of almost 10 per cent.

Continental Tyre Group

Developed in co-operation with Europe’s leading car manufacturers, the new ContiEcoContact 5 is designed to set new standards in terms of the environment and safety.

The challenge in tyre design is to reduce rolling resistance and wear whilst, at the same time, ensure that the tyre is still good at wet braking. Continental’s tyre engineers had to start with a completely new approach to all four components of the tyre to achieve this. The experts looked at design, contour, compound and tread pattern.

The result is a tyre that delivers reduced CO2 emissions and lower fuel consumption while still delivering excellent braking performance. This means that the ContiEcoContact 5 has 20 per cent better rolling resistance than its predecessor leading to a 3 per cent reduction in fuel consumption. Engineers have also improved wear by 12 per cent and braking on wet roads by 10 per cent.

A specially developed compound and optimised tread grooves have lead to an improvement in grip in the wet. Continental’s tyre designers have combined this with functionalised polymer chains forming a stronger bond with the silica which gives lower rolling resistance. Extra thin sipes reduce tread deformation minimising energy loss.

The engineers also found that the tyre’s ground contact patch offered scope for reducing rolling resistance. The tyre developers at Continental managed to lessen movement in the belt structure by using a very flat contour and adapting the distribution of tread depths to suit this.
Not happy to stop there, the engineers also looked at the sidewall lettering on the tyre. A flatter, more smooth design now reduces the drag on the car helping to improve the aerodynamics of the overall vehicle.

Michelin Tyre Plc

Michelin has five core values that have ultimate influence over all of its decision making processes. One of these is ‘Respect for the Environment’. As a world leading tyre manufacturer, Michelin is dedicated to reducing any negative impact its operations have on the environment, something demonstrated by the many initiatives it has implemented globally at group level as well as locally in the UK.

One major initiative implemented across the Michelin Group is the Michelin Environmental Footprint Programme (MEF). MEF is an indicator created by Michelin to assess the environmental impact of industrial, logistics and research facilities with the aim of a 30 per cent reduction in the Group’s carbon footprint by 2013. Michelin UK has already achieved this objective by passing the MEF targets two years ahead of schedule. All three UK sites no longer send any waste to landfill, as it is either reused, recycled or sent for recovery in waste to energy plants.

The installation of two wind turbines at the Dundee site, a similar scheme planned for Ballymena and the electricity consumption reduction through the replacement of old fluorescent lighting with high efficiency units in the tyre warehouses at Stoke, are further examples of UK sites taking the initiative to achieve the MEF carbon reduction objectives.

Supporting tyre recycling, re-manufacturing operations and producing more eco-friendly tyres are further vital elements in achieving Michelin’s environmental aims. The new eco-friendly tyre developments include the new Michelin Energy Saver Tyre – the latest generation of Michelin ‘green’ tyres.

Vellco Tyre Control

Vellco is delighted to have been nominated once again for the prestigious TAFF Awards Environment Category which has become an integral part of the NTDA’s Annual Dinner event.

Vellco has won this award on no fewer than three former occasions, and with the company’s professional and diligent approach to reducing environmental impact in its operations in the automotive recycling sector, Vellco is hoping to win for a fourth time this year.

Utilising the Environment Agency’s established hierarchy of Re-use – Recycle – Recover, Vellco has achieved carbon negativity without needing to ‘offset’ CO2 generated by the company by the popular method of planting trees.

The ingenious and innovative use of a tripling machine (which inserts one tyre casing inside another and then a third casing inside the first two) has achieved for Vellco a carbon credit of 256.62 tonnes/CO2 by reducing by two thirds export shipping costs and energy thereon.
A further indirect credit is created by enabling 8,274.22 tonnes/ CO2 to be removed by preparing truck casings for retreading. Vellco’s total tonnage of car/van casings which are exported for re-use achieved a carbon credit of 3060.42 tonnes/ CO2.

John Campbell said, “These days, it is not just about delivering an excellent service at every level. It is also equally about our company, as a major service provider to blue chip national retailers, continually searching out best practice and striving to find ways of lowering costs as well as reducing our overall carbon footprint.”

Yokohama HPT

When it comes to minimising the impact of tyres and their production on the environment, Yokohama is attracting global recognition as one of the foremost manufacturers to adopt green credentials.
The manufacturer embraces the ‘Muda-dori’ principle of time and resource management with all of its Japanese tyre production facilities having achieved zero emissions. By-products of the manufacturing process are recycled and the use of landfill is completely eliminated.

Solar energy generation features at two Yokohama plants, contributing approximately 75,000kWh of electricity to the factories and reducing their carbon emissions by approximately 100 tonnes. This is in line with its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an ambitious 25 per cent by 2020.

The company is also running its ‘Forever Forest’ initiative, to plant 500,000 trees to offset carbon emissions, by its centenary in 2017. Already Yokohama has planted over 183,000 trees since the programme’s inception in 2007.

But it’s not just the facilities that make a positive contribution. The recently-announced BluEarth-1 tyre embodies Yokohama’s commitment; it delivers superior low fuel efficiency by its amazing super low rolling resistance, which is 23 per cent less than Yokohama’s current eco tyre.

Yokohama is the pioneer of orange oil technology, which uses oil extracted from the peel of citrus fruit to replace mineral ingredients in its BluEarth-1 tyre, greatly reducing the overall content of petroleum-derived components.

In addition to orange oil, BluEarth-1 features Yokohama’s patented advanced inner liner technology. This innovation reduces air leakage by around 36 per cent from conventional type liner, keeping the tyre at its optimum pressure.

Featuring a weight saving of around 17 per cent compared to Yokohama’s current eco tyre, BluEarth-1 has been developed to provide excellent levels of wet and dry weather grip with low rolling resistance, therefore increasing a vehicle’s overall fuel efficiency.

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