FINDLAY, Ohio—Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. released its seventh annual Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability report.
In the report, Cooper outlines the development of a global energy program to complete projects that offset energy use, according to a company news release. A combined heat and power system provides about 50 percent of the electrical needs of Cooper's Findlay plant, generating steam for plant processes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Cooper considers corporate social responsibility and sustainability to be an important part of doing business," said Brad Hughes, Cooper's president and CEO.
Cooper continued to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills from its manufacturing plants, recycling about 78 percent of its waste annually, the firm said. It increased the amount of waste reused and recycled by other sources.
The Findlay-based tire maker also signed on as a founding member of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, an organization working toward establishing and promoting sustainable rubber practices. The group was initiated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Tire Industry Project.
Globally, Cooper said, it is working to establish safe working environments, touting its "Drive to Zero" safety campaign that aims for injury-free workplaces. This effort resulted in the tire maker improving its Total Recordable Incident Rate across manufacturing plants by more than 65 percent in the last three years. This, it said, is the lowest recordable TRIR since tracking the metric.
The report also details the efforts of Cooper's "Tread Wisely" campaign, a tire and vehicle safety information program geared toward young adults. Since the campaign's inception, Cooper employees have helped to reach hundreds of thousands of teens with events and programming.
The full sustainability report is available on Cooper's corporate website at coopertire.com/corporate-responsibility/sustainability.