ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 16, 2007 – CertainTeed Corp. and Shintech Inc. received the Vinyl Institute’s top honors today for 16 consecutive years of outstanding environmental and safety performance at polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin manufacturing plants in North America.
CertainTeed’s plant in Sulphur, La., and Shintech’s plant in Freeport, Texas, won VI’s Environmental Excellence Award for the 16th consecutive year. The 2007 award is based on outstanding performance in 2006, under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP).
EPA regulations require PVC resin and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) plants to control, measure and report vinyl chloride emissions from production processes and products, including air and water releases from residual VCM stripping operations, VCM emission points and reactor openings. In addition, plants must identify and repair leaks from equipment and pipelines in their facilities and maintain records on those repairs.
“As we celebrate VI’s 25th anniversary and this longstanding awards program to promote and recognize facilities committed to keeping our workforce safe and our environment healthy, we are proud to spotlight CertainTeed and Shintech and all the other facilities that have received awards this year,” Tim Burns, VI president, said. To have achieved these results speaks volumes about the investments all our members have made – and continue to make -- in training, technology and process improvements. Their achievements set an example for all types of manufacturers.”
The Environmental Excellence Award is also given to facilities with an outstanding track record of environmental performance for five or more years. Other 2007 winners are:
- PolyOne Corp.’s PVC plant in Pedricktown, N.J., for 13 consecutive years of achievement.
- OxyVinyls LP’s ethylene dichloride (EDC)/VCM plant in Deer Park, Texas, for nine consecutive years of achievement.
- OxyVinyls LP’s EDC/VCM plant in Ingleside, Texas, for seven consecutive years of achievement.
- OxyVinyls LP’s PVC plant in Deer Park, Texas, for six consecutive years of achievement.
Five years ago, the VI expanded its environmental criteria for its new Environmental Honor Award to include emission reduction under the NESHAP, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), and for purposes of EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The VI awarded three plants with the new Environmental Honor Award, two in the PVC category and one in the EDC/VCM category. This year’s winners are:
- CertainTeed Corp.’s PVC plant in Sulphur, La.
- OxyVinyls, LP’s PVC plant in Louisville, Ky.
- Georgia Gulf Chemicals and Vinyls, LLC’s EDC/VCM plant in Plaquemine, La.
VI’s Safety Excellence Award is given to plants that for five or more consecutive years have the lowest recordable worker injury or illness, under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) recordable incidence rate. OSHA defines a recordable incident as one involving an occupational injury or illness resulting in medical treatment. This year, two plants have earned the Safety Excellence award:
- OxyVinyls LP’s PVC plant in Pedricktown, N.J., for six consecutive years of excellence.
- PolyOne Corp.’s PVC plant in Pedricktown for five consecutive years of excellence.
Each year, VI’s Safety Performance Awards recognize efforts to improve worker safety based on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) recordable incidence rate during that year. The award, which recognizes plants with the lowest incident rate, was presented to six companies in the vinyl and EDC/VCM categories. The winners are:
- CertainTeed Corp., for its PVC plant in Sulphur, La.
- Formosa Plastics Corp., U.S.A., for its PVC plant in Baton Rouge, La., and its EDC/VCM plants in Baton Rouge, La., and Point Comfort, Texas.
- Georgia Gulf Chemicals and Vinyls, LLC, for its PVC plants in Oklahoma City, Okla., and Aberdeen, Miss.
- Occidental Chemical Corp., for its EDC plant in Convent, La.
- OxyVinyls, LP, for its PVC plants in Pedricktown, N.J.; Deer Park, Texas; and Niagara Falls in Ontario Canada; and its EDC/VCM plant in Deer Park, Texas.
- The PolyOne Corp., for its PVC plant in Pedricktown, N.J.
Founded in 1982, the Vinyl Institute is a national independent trade association representing the leading manufacturers of vinyl plastics, as well as makers of vinyl feedstocks, additives, and film and sheet products. For more information, visit VI’s websites at www.vinylinfo.org and www.vinylnewsservice.net.