Planting Seeds for Future Growth, Toyota Reaches Environmental Milestone

PRINCETON, IN--May 9, 2014: Aside from being a great place to work and producing world-class vehicles, Toyota Indiana strives to be a leader in its environmental efforts. Today the plant showed 100,000 reasons why its environmental efforts are gaining traction.

Teaming Up to Reduce Energy Consumption Last month, Toyota announced it received the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. EPA for continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency.

“Our Environmental Affairs team and Production team members have collaborated throughout the years to implement many innovative ways to reduce energy consumption,” said John Stevens, Manager, Plant Engineering & Environmental. “From wastewater sludge reduction to our focused recycling efforts, teamwork has made it all possible.”

“Plant”ing for the Future In May 2008, Toyota’s Environmental Affairs team implemented its Afforestation Area. The plan called for planting native species of trees on many of the 1,160 acres of land that the automaker calls home.

Fast forward six years – today Toyota Indiana President, Norm Bafunno, gathered children from the Toyota Children’s Center to share a special announcement. Last month, the 100,000th tree in the Afforestation Area was planted. That number equates to more than 20 trees planted for each of the company’s 4,700 team members.

Overall, more than 130,000 trees have been planted in the Afforestation Area. The area has become a thriving habitat for area wildlife, including white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawks and even bobcats to live and reproduce in.

“I know that our plant will be around for many years to come,” said Bafunno. “It is my wish that many of these young children will grow to be our future team members – and as they grow, these trees will be growing with them.”

A key component of Toyota’s environmental initiatives is future sustainability. The Afforestation Area and the fact that Toyota has been a zero waste to landfill facility since 2005 are a couple of examples of these sustainable actions.