Michelin investing to reduce water consumption

An investment of three million euros will enable the Michelin tyre plant in Gravanches, France to reduce its water extraction by 60 per cent. The company will erect an adiabatic tower that keeps water in a closed circuit, saving around 10,000 cubic metres of water a year – the equivalent of four Olympic-sized pools.

By installing an adiabatic tower, Michelin aims to achieve a “more restrained, responsible use of water” while avoiding risks such as legionella. To implement this project, the site worked with the support of a group of experts including environmental, water, maintenance and engineering specialists.

A third less water by 2030

Thanks to 15 years of efforts, Michelin has reduced the water extraction of its industrial sites by 43 per cent (compared to the absolute value of the percentage of water extracted from 2005 to 2019). Michelin factories have thus extracted nearly 178 million cubic metres less water from the environment,

Through its good practices and a number of investments, the Michelin factories have made it possible to avoid extracting nearly 178 million m3 of water from the environment, an amount equal of the annual domestic consumption of more than 3 million people.

Michelin Group has recently set a goal of reducing the water extraction of all its industrial sites by 33 per cent by 2030 compared to 2019. It will achieve this objective at the Gravanches plant by 2024.

Net CO2 plant

Cutting water extraction by 60 per cent adds to the Gravanches plant’s sustainability credentials. Michelin credits the facility, which produces motorsport tyres such as the 63 per cent sustainable materials tyre developed for Green GT’s H24 hydrogen-powered racing prototype, as being the first tyre plant in the world with a zero net CO₂ emission rate.