ELIMINATING ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS
Focused Efforts on Protecting the Environment Based on International
Standard
In late 1996, shortly after the a new environmental focused international
standard1
was issued, SIA began exploring what these new standard was all about, and
how we could use this system of structured requirements to further reduce
our environmental impacts . SIA
began manufacturing in 1989 and has had an excellent record of maintaining
"compliance" to Federal, State, and local environmental laws and
regulations. However, it was soon identified as we implemented the ISO 14001
Environmental Management System (EMS) that there was much
more that we could, and should do. Starting slowly in 1997, and using the
knowledge gained from implementing our ISO 9001 Quality Management System,
we implemented various levels of environmental controls and improvement
activities. The result of this
early commitment to environmental improvement, SIA was recognized as the
first automotive manufacturer in the United States to be ISO 14001
“certified”. Certified
indicates that our EMS was, and continues to be successfully audited, by an
external 3rd party auditing agency against the requirements of the ISO 14001
standard as well as many others that we have defined internally.
This annual audit ensures that our system remains effective, and is
continually striving to improve.
In 2003 our parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI) outlined key
strategic environmental objectives for all of FHI’s business operations
world-wide from product design, through manufacturing, distribution, and
sales, and finally to our customers. To enhance the commitments of these key
environment objectives, the (Subaru)
North American Environmental Committee (N.A.E.C) was established. This
committee is an organization consisting of Fuji Heavy Industries
subsidiaries located in North America, created for the purpose of “enhancing
environmental management efficiency of all the member companies through
N.A.E.C organization management.” At SIA and all of Subaru’s business
location, we firmly believe that responsible stewardship of our environment
is an essential ingredient of our business culture, and we strongly believe
that as stewards of the environment, we can reduce or eliminate adverse
environmental impacts associated with our business operations and promote
activities beneficial to the environment. To provide a summary of our
environmental activities, our parent company releases an annual Social &
Environmental Report that outlines the progress of all FHI companies and
divisions, and the progress made to environmental stewardship.
Each and every day at SIA we continue to accomplish our policy by reducing
the amount of waste generated, and reusing and/or recycling the remaining
items. Through the commitments of our company, Associates, and our supplier,
SIA achieved Zero Landfill
status in May 2004, something we are extremely proud of!
Even today, as our EMS continues to grow, we continue to implement many
environmental related improvement projects that support the main commitment
of SIA, as defined in our Environmental Policy: “Eliminate
Environmental Risk of our Operations”. In
2012 we further enhanced our commitment to the environment by implementing
the ISO 50001 Energy Management System.
This international standard provides an even greater focus on energy
performance and reduction, resulting in lowering our CO2 generation.
At Subaru we believe we have the most environmentally conscious customers
(and potential customers) of any car company.
When people think of our products, they think of the outdoors;
hiking, camping, bicycling, kayaking, canoeing, running…the list goes on and
on. And that is why we must
continue to strive to be the most environmentally friendly company in the
United States. After
all, it’s what makes Subaru a Subaru!
For additional information about SIA's environmental activities, please contact Denise Coogan at denise.coogan@subaru-sia.com
1 The original issuance of the ISO 14001 standard occurred in 1996, and it was last revised/reissued in 2004