Bandag receives Australian environmental award

The Bandag operation in Australia reports its receipt of an Environmental Innovation award at this year’s Queensland Bus Industry Council (QBIC) annual conference. The QBIC bestowed this honour upon Bandag Manufacturing Pty Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Australia, in recognition of its investment in green initiatives. The company has implemented a variety of measures at its manufacturing facility in Wacol, including rainwater harvesting, a gas boiler burner upgrade and low energy LED lighting.

“Most recently we invested in two 100 kilowatt solar power systems, which will significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” commented Greg Nielsen, general manager retread business. “We’re also going to double our rainwater harvesting capacity by the end of the year and are finalising a plan to recycle 200 tonnes worth of tread scrap annually.”

Bandag says its green drive has also seen the development of low rolling resistant retreads that have a 14 per cent lower rolling resistance coefficient than comparable products. “Our LRR retreads have proven to deliver between two per cent and six per cent fuel savings for transport operators, reducing their fuel consumption and subsequent carbon emissions significantly,” added Nielsen.

Upon receipt of the award at the QBIC annual conference, Nielsen stated that “at Bandag, we pride ourselves on being as environmentally friendly as we can and it’s extremely gratifying to be formally recognised for our efforts. We want to make sure our commitment to the environment doesn’t end with our products, and we want to inspire others in the transport industry to do the same.”

Bandag Manufacturing retreads more than 550,000 truck tyre casings every year, making Bandag the number one retreading brand in Australasia.