Volvo Trucks North America Inc's New River Valley plant in Dublin VA received the Commonwealth of Virginia's highest environmental award for manufacturers. NRV received the 2005 Governor's Environmental Excellence Award for Manufacturers — Gold Level for its environmental programs at a ceremony in Richmond recently. The award encourages excellence in environmental management by recognizing companies that go beyond regulatory compliance toward environmental stewardship.
Since 2000, NRV has made substantial changes in its chemical use and industrial processes, while undergoing a major expansion and increased production. During this period, NRV:
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Eliminated heavy metals in basecoat color paint; all paints are now free of lead and chrome.
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Eliminated chromium in the cab phosphate process (a precursor step to electrocoating the cab).
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Eliminated hazardous air pollutants in paint purge solvent.
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Instituted water recycling for the cab leak testing process, with a 33% reduction in plant-wide water use.
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Implemented an energy management program, which reduced electricity use by 19.6% and natural gas consumption by 20%.
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Reduced landfill waste per truck produced by more than 30%.
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Cut VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions per truck produced from 23.8 pounds per truck to 12.5 pounds per truck, a 52.5% decrease.
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Recycled 100% of process wastewater for use in plant, approximately 50,000 gallons per day.