Arlington, Va., June 9, 2006 – CertainTeed Corp. and Shintech Inc. were honored at the Vinyl Institute’s annual meeting May 22 for 15 consecutive years of outstanding environmental performance at polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin manufacturing plants in North America.
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CertainTeed’s plant in Sulphur, La., and Shintech’s plant in Freeport, Texas, won VI’s Environmental Excellence Award for the 15th consecutive year. The 2006 award is based on outstanding performance in 2005, 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.
“The vinyl industry is strongly committed to keeping our workforce safe and our environment healthy, and demonstrates that by investing heavily in training, technology and process improvements,” said Tim Burns, VI president. CertainTeed and Shintech, in particular, have been models of safety and stewardship for 15 years, and I am proud to honor them again.”
Other 2006 Environmental Excellence Award winners were:
PolyOne Corp.’s PVC plant in Pedricktown, N.J., for 12 consecutive years of achievement.
OxyVinyls LP’s ethylene dichloride (EDC)/VCM plant in Deer Park, Texas, for eight consecutive years of achievement.
OxyVinyls LP’s EDC/VCM plant in Ingleside, Texas, for six consecutive years of achievement.
OxyVinyls LP’s PVC plant in Deer Park, Texas, for five consecutive years of achievement.
Four years ago, VI expanded its environmental criteria beyond the vinyl chloride NESHAP regulations for its new Environmental Honor Award. Criteria now included are emission reductions for other key chemicals used in the production process that are regulated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). VI awarded two plants with the Environmental Honor Award, one in the PVC category and one in the EDC/VCM category. This year’s winners of the award were:
PolyOne Corp.’s PVC plant in Henry, Ill.
OxyVinyls LP’s VCM plant in Deer Park, Texas.
VI’s Most Improved Environmental Performance Award goes to plants that have achieved at least a 50 percent improvement in their Environmental Award Score over three years, while showing improvement each year. The winner for this award was:
Georgia Gulf Chemicals and Vinyls LLC’s, PVC plant in Plaquemine, La.
VI’s Safety Excellence Award is given to plants that for five or more consecutive years have not had a 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, one plant received the Safety Excellence Award:
OxyVinyls LP’s PVC plant in Pedricktown, N.J.
VI’s Safety Performance Award recognizes companies that had no recordable injury or illness for at least one year. Winners of the 2006 Safety Performance Award were:
- Formosa Plastics Corp. U.S.A., for its PVC and its EDC/VCM plants in Baton Rouge, La.
- Georgia Gulf Chemicals and Vinyls LLC, for its PVC plant in Oklahoma City Okla., and its EDC/VCM plant in Plaquemine, La.
- Occidental Chemical Corp., for its EDC/VCM plant in Ingleside, Texas, and its EDC plant in Convent, La.
- OxyVinyls LP, for its PVC and EDC/VCM plants in Deer Park, Texas.
- The PolyOne Corp., for its Pedricktown, N.J., PVC plant.
- Shintech Inc.’s PVC plant in Freeport, Texas.
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. VI is located at 1300 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22209. For more information, visit VI’s web site at www.vinylinfo.org.
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