Trelleborg targets bluer skies in China

BEIJING—Trelleborg Wheel Systems is taking steps to make the skies a little bluer in China.

The company has implemented new environmental measures at its facilities there in a bid to comply with the country's three-year action plan for "blue sky protection."

The company runs two tire production facilities in Zingtai and Hebei in China, and according to president Paolo Pompei, it has "invested significantly" in production sustainability in the two facilities since 2017.

"For nearly a decade, we have been greening our facilities, revamping structures by introducing innovative, environmentally sustainable technologies," Pompei said, adding that such investments intensified three years ago.

The investments involved dismantling the coal boilers at the Xingtai and Hebei facilities and replacing them with two new gas boilers.

The new boilers are equipped with advanced systems for the reduction and online monitoring of SOx and NOx emissions.

In addition, ventilation and VOC filtering systems have been installed in all production workshops and REACH compliant materials have replaced others.

Most recently, in April 2020, an additional investment was made to replace the existing UV+plasma+active carbon filters with post-combustion systems that will reduce mixing emission, Pompei said.

"Through these transformative actions, the two Chinese facilities have set the pace for all Trelleborg Wheel Systems sites worldwide," the TWS president said.

Trelleborg inaugurated its manufacturing site in Xingtai, Hebei, China, in 2011, to become the first non-Chinese company to build agricultural tires in the country. Two years later, the company added a solid tire plant in Hebei.

The two sites, employing 580 people, produce radial, bias and solid tires for farming, forestry, agro-industrial, industrial and mining applications ranging from 16 to 54 inches.