Tokyo - The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., announced that Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a key production location for passenger, truck and bus tires in Thailand, had achieved "zero emissions"*1 - that is, landfill disposal was less than 1%. Yokohama Rubber conducted on-site investigations of all contractors commissioned to dispose of waste from the plant, confirming the zero-emissions result.

Since FY2006, Yokohama Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd., has worked continuously on the matter, establishing targets for landfill disposal and making those targets stricter every year. Specifically, while strengthening activities to reduce waste, including reducing scrap in the production process and recycling pallets and containers, the plant has endeavored to separate materials more precisely to increase recycling rates. Hereafter, the plant will further strengthen its efforts with the aim of achieving the even higher target of "complete zero emissions"*2 - no landfill disposal.

Under a basic policy of asserting world-class strengths in technologies for protecting the environment, as stated in its "Medium-Range Management Plan: Grand Design 100 (GD100)," the Yokohama Rubber Group establishes "Top-level environmental friendliness." A priority issue in that declaration is the reduction of waste emissions at domestic and overseas production sites. Domestically, since March 2006, "complete zero emissions" have been maintained at all eight production sites. In January of this year, at five locations - the Hiratsuka Factory, and Mie, Ibaraki, Hiratsuka-East and Nagano Plants - 100% recycling of industrial waste*3 was achieved, two years earlier than anticipated. With full-scale zero emissions activities having commenced in FY2008 at overseas plants, Yokohama Rubber's global target is to successfully achieve zero emissions at all production sites by FY2011.

*1:Less than 1% of the total waste volume is subject to direct landfill disposal.
*2:No waste is subject to direct landfill disposal.
*3:No waste generated in the course of business activities is subject to final disposal (= landfill disposal + incineration without effective utilization).