Ford’s assembly plant in Louisville has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 for its wastewater reuse program. The Louisville plant is now one of three winners of the 2021 Pollution Prevention Award.
The Louisville plant has multiple different practices in place to help make the location more efficient and environmentally friendly. The water recycling initiative that has earned the award was developed by plant employees and reuses treated wastewater in the paint pretreatment step of the manufacturing process. This reduces the amount of wastewater sent to the Publicly Owned Treatment Works wastewater treatment facility. With this project, the Louisville Assembly Plant reduced over 5 million gallons of city water use within the first year, the equivalent of saving about $50,000 and over 22 gallons of water for each vehicle.
It is one of Ford’s major goals to use freshwater only for human consumption, and this new program has contributed to the 12.5 billion gallons of water that have been saved through water conservation and recycling programs since 2000.
Ford’s climate and sustainability efforts have been receiving additional commendations recently. The company took a spot on the CDP A-List for water security for the seventh year in a row, and on the CDP’s A-List for climate change for the third year in a row. Ford also signed the Department of Energy's Better Climate Challenge, becoming the first automaker to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their U.S. manufacturing facilities by 25%- 50% over 10 years, and their supply chain sustainability program, Partnership for A Cleaner Environment (PACE), is helping to reduce the company’s global impact overall by providing support to over 50 of Ford’s key suppliers to help them reduce their environmental impact, such as by saving an estimated 182 million gallons of water in their global operations from 2020 to 2030.
“Ford is proud to match our sustainability ambition with bold, transformative action that aims to help protect our communities as well as our planet,” said Bob Holycross, vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering. “Our environmental stewardship begins long before our vehicles leave the assembly line, and the innovative work being done at Louisville Assembly Plant is a perfect example of how our employees are helping make our sustainability aspirations a reality.”