The public has an opportunity to comment on Waupaca Foundry’s application for Wisconsin’s Green Tier program.
The application covers Waupaca Foundry’s four facilities located in Waupaca and Marinette counties.
Waupaca Foundry is applying for Tier 1 of the Green Tier program, which rewards companies that are committed to superior environmental performance.
Green Tier encourages businesses to voluntarily collaborate with the Department of Natural Resources, and applicants must also have a good environmental record as well as implement an Environmental Management System.
Waupaca Foundry is headquartered in Waupaca and operates six iron casting foundries in Wisconsin, Indiana and Tennessee.
With more than 3,900 employees, Waupaca Foundry is the world’s largest producer of gray, ductile, austempered ductile, and compacted graphite iron; melting more than 9,500 tons a day. Casting sizes range between 2 to 350 pounds and serves the passenger car and light truck, commercial vehicle, agriculture and construction markets, as well as the hydraulics, material handling, and other industrial segments.
Waupaca Foundry recycles more than 800,000 tons of metal annually and 75 percent of the foundry’s sand by-product is reused for road and general construction, agriculture and geotechnical fill.
Waupaca Foundry was awarded the 2009 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence by the state of Wisconsin for a heat recovery project that reduced the amount of natural gas required annually by 600,000 decatherms, an amount equivalent to the emissions from 791 passenger cars.
Waupaca Foundry is also a program partner of the Better Plants Program, a U.S. Department of Energy program where they pledge to reduce industrial energy intensity by 25 percent over the next decade.
Waupaca Foundry has a 10-year vision for sustainability with achievable goals for reducing their environmental impact:
• Reduce energy use intensity by 25 percent;
• Promote alternative processes and maintaining state of the art pollution control technologies;
• Reduce spent foundry sand generation by 30 percent while promoting offsite reuse/recycling opportunities of remaining spent foundry materials to achieve zero landfill disposal;
• Reduce water use consumption by 80 percent by 2020.
The DNR will accept public comments on Waupaca Foundry’s Green Tier application through Feb. 6, 2015. Comments may be directed to Tom Eggert, Wisconsin DNR, OB/7, PO BOX 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, by email [email protected], or by calling 608-267-2761.
More details about Waupaca Foundry can be found at www.waupacafoundry.com. For more information about Waupaca Foundry’s participation in Green Tier search the DNR website dnr.wi.gov for keywords “Green Tier,” and click on the tab for “see Green Tier applicants.”