News Releases - 1998

Ten Plants Join Environmental Management Project

Chicago -- Ten Illinois industrial plants were recognized by the Illinois EPA today for volunteering to participate in a major pilot project that will help evaluate the effectiveness of environmental management systems in reducing pollution and working with their communities.

Based on the ISO (International Standardization Organization) 14000 system, the participants will provide comprehensive information for two or three years on their facilities' impacts on the environment, and document changes through implementing ISO 14000 approaches.

Illinois EPA staff will work one-on-one with the facilities on pollution prevention approaches and increasing involvement of local communities and other stakeholders.

"We commend these companies for their willingness to be part of this ground-breaking project that challenges industry to not only comply with governmental regulations but to consider their total impact on the environment. ISO 14000 provides a model for integrating environmental considerations in a systematic and efficient manner that could ultimately reduce production costs with less impact to the environment," said Illinois EPA Director Mary Gade.

The facilities will work primarily with Illinois EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Office of Community Relations staff, as well as technical representatives from the Bureaus of Air, Land and Water. Besides developing environmental management approaches, the project also emphasizes participation by the stakeholders impacted by or otherwise interested in the plant's operations.

Information from the participants will be fed into a national data base maintained by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Environmental Law Institute. Similar information from other states will be entered into the data base and made available to university researchers and others for evaluation.

"By stepping forward to become charter members of the Illinois pilot project, these facilities are now part of the cutting-edge of environmental management and are facing up to the new realities of global economic competition. Increasingly, multi-national companies, such as U.S. automakers are adopting ISO 14000 and requiring their suppliers to do so as well," added Gade.

Illinois is one of several states participating in a national project on evaluating the effectiveness of ISO 14000 environmental management systems. The Illinois portion is funded by a $100,000 two-year grant from U.S. EPA. The project results from recommendations of the Multi-State Working Group, whose vice chair is Illinois EPA Associate Director Peter Wise.

"The mission of the Multi-State Working Group is to understand and communicate the value of ISO14000 in meeting public policy goals and related goals of the private and public sectors. The emphasis is on continuously improving performance and being accountable for impacting the environment," Wise said.

Wise noted the Working Group, with the states and U.S. EPA, has developed common protocols to be used in all of the pilot projects. They cover the categories of environmental performance, regulatory compliance, environmental conditions, costs and cost savings, pollution prevention, interested party involvement, and the nature of the management system.

The participating companies represent a range of experience with ISO 14000 and environmental management systems. Fuji-Hunt's facility in Rolling Meadows was the first in North America to be ISO 14000 certified, while some of our other plants are just starting to get acquainted with the standards.

Director Gade presented recognition awards from Illinois EPA to the participants today at the facility of one of them, S&C Electric, in Chicago.

The participants are:

• American NTN Bearing Manufacturing Corporation (Elgin)
• Bridgestone/Firestone Company (Decatur)
• The Dexter Corporation (Waukegan)
• Fuji-Hunt Corporation (Rolling Meadows)
• Motorola (Arlington Heights)
• Motorola (Northbrook)
• Navistar International Transportation Corporation (Melrose Park)
• S&C Electric Company (Chicago)
• SWD Inc. (Addison)
• Zexel USA Corporation (Decatur)