MOUNT VERNON - Continental Tire North America's Mount Vernon plant was honored recently by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois.

The company received one of 38 awards given to Illinois businesses and organizations for significant achievements in protecting the environment, helping sustain the future and improving the economy.

"The efforts of these businesses and organizations demonstrate that it is possible to meet social and economic needs while minimizing impacts on the environment. Present and future generations will appreciate their foresight," ISTC Acting Director John C. Marlin said.

First-time winners are given the Governor's Sustainability Award for demonstrating a commitment to environmental excellence through outstanding and innovative sustainability practices, while those like Continental Tire who have previously been honored with the Governor's Award receive a Continuous Improvement Award.

Scott Cravens, CTNA's Environmental, Safety and Health Manager, said efforts focus on pollution prevention and awareness throughout the plant.

"Our goal is to become 100 percent landfill free," said Cravens. "Since 2001, we have increased our recycled waste streams from 28 percent to over 88 percent. These results would not be possible without the support and help from our environmental partnerships and our employees."

Among the achievements at CTNA:

• The Carbon Black handling system was modified to capture and reuse the material, saving roughly three million pounds of carbon black material annually;

• The plant successfully developed a method to recycle carbon black. This activity has diverted an estimated 325,000 pounds of carbon black from landfill for the fourth quarter 2008;

• Uncured rubber-related scrap was cut by roughly 400,000 pounds by modifying equipment and placing better controls on raw materials usage and technology improvements;

• CTNA now receives raw materials on multiple use plastic pallets or metal shipping containers rather than on single use wooden pallets. This activity lowers the overall carbon footprint of the facility and has cut wood consumptions by 125,000 pounds;

• All plant general lighting was replaced with high efficiency T8 florescent fixtures. The replacement project produced a savings of 250 watts per fixture, with more than 2,500 fixtures replaced. This activity has produced annual kilowatt-hour savings of 5,500,000 per year.