SPECIAL REPORT
Cleaner, Leaner School Bus Operations Begin with Sustainable Manufacturing
By Michelle Fisher While alternative-engine school buses often make headlines
for helping to clean up the environment, several bus manufac- turers are also “greening up” operations behind the scenes with sustainable initiatives that get less publicity. Tose in student transportation may not hear about other
companies’ efforts to save energy or reduce waste until an award puts them in the spotlight. Mike Strickland, environmental health and safety manager at Collins Bus, said it is “very rewarding” for the company to have won two awards in 2011 — the Pollution Prevention Award from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Green Corporate Citizen Award from Waste & Recycling News. “We were very surprised to make it to the final three, and for
us to win was incredible,” Strickland recalled. When he was hired in 2008, the company only recycled scrap
metal. Since then, Collins’ recycling program and other waste- reduction initiatives have cut back on landfill waste by nearly 90 percent. Te earnings from recycling cardboard “more than off- set” the amount paid to have scrap wood recycled and reused. What also caught the attention of Waste & Recycling News was
Collins’ mentoring program, which brings in other companies for a tour of the factory, including a tutorial on recycling, waste re- duction and water conservation.
LEARNING THE THREE R’S — REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE Tomas Built Bus, Blue Bird Corporation, Trans Tech Bus, IC
Bus and Lion Bus also have recycling and waste reduction initia- tives that pay off in more ways than one. In 2011, Tomas earned the distinction of becoming the first
school bus OEM to achieve Zero-Waste-to-Landfill status, which means everything it receives or produces is used, reused, recycled or sold. Ten, Tomas received the 2011 Environmental Steward Award in February from the North Carolina Department of Envi- ronment and Natural Resources. Te company reported it nearly doubled its recycling of wood
and nearly tripled its paper and cardboard recycling from 2008 to 2010, while reducing its annual water consumption by 42 per- cent and its energy consumption by 6,891 kilowatts from 2006 to 2010. Tomas officials noted that new factory equipment has
helped to realize leaner management and greener operations. Te purchase of two 4,000-watt laser cutters and a 20-foot stack- er enabled them to eliminate five other machines and shorten the time to fabricate parts by 25 percent.
32 School Transportation News Magazine August 2012
Blue Bird Corp. employees work together on recycling and other waste-reduction programs to meet the company goal of becoming 100 percent landfill free.
“Tese new lasers provide greater precision, so we get the op-
timum number of parts from a sheet, reducing waste,” said Jeff Allen, Tomas’ VP of operations, adding that they’ve also saved on material costs and recycling fees. Blue Bird spokeswoman Erin Lake said the company’s “Join
Blue, Go Green” program reinforces environmental awareness and encourages all employees to recycle as much as possible. Te goal is to become 100-percent landfill free, and at this writing the company was at 90 percent. It currently recycles 100 percent of its cardboard, plastic and all metals. “We have successfully reduced our carbon footprint and our
environmental waste while producing products that are envi- ronmentally friendly, such as propane and CNG school buses,” Lake said. Tis spring, the Middle Georgia Clean Air Coalition recog-
nized Blue Bird with its Extra Mile Award for a commitment to cleaner-burning school buses. Te award lauds organizations that improve Georgia’s air quality while advancing economic, en- vironmental and energy security. “We are committed to providing innovative, reliable and ef-
ficient green solutions that our customers want and value,” said Phil Horlock, Blue Bird’s president and CEO. Meanwhile, Trans Tech President Dan Daniels said company
officials there continually look for ways to incorporate the ideal of sustainability into the products they manufacture, like the all- electric eTrans school bus, as well as all manufacturing processes.
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