Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Winter 2008/2009 | Page 9

NEWS

ANOTHER

GREEN AWARD FOR SIA
The accolades continue for Subaru of
Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), the plant
where the Subaru Outback, Legacy and
Tribeca are manufactured.
In 2004, SIA became the first U.S.
automobile assembly plant to directly
landfill zero waste material. Their facility,
over 800 acres in rural Indiana, is also
the first automotive manufacturing
site in the U.S. to be named a Backyard
Wildlife Habitat by the National
Wildlife Federation.
Now the plant has received the
2008 WasteWise Gold Achievement

Award for Climate Change by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)
Office of Solid Waste.
The EPA honoured SIA for its
achievements in lowering greenhouse gas
emissions through waste reduction; the
facility has reduced its CO2 emissions by an
incredible 20% per unit since 2000. These
impressive results came about after SIA
incorporated innovative process changes,
Kaizen suggestions from associates and
technological enhancements.
“It is an honor to be recognized
by the EPA with the WasteWise Gold

Achievement Award,” said Tom Easterday,
Senior Vice President of SIA, “It reaffirms
our continued commitment to reduce
our impact on the environment
and remain the industry leader in
environmental stewardship.”
In 2007, the EPA also awarded SIA the
WasteWise Gold Achievement Award for
Industrial Recycling. On that occasion, the
plant boasted a recycling rate of 99.8%
and recycled over 15,000 tons of materials
that year alone. All of which is a clear
sign that Subaru is focused on making a
positive impact in all aspects of business.

GREEN AND CLEAN IN

the future held, but they did know they
wanted to raise their family in a place
where the air was clean and the night
sky was full of stars. “We were blessed
to find a place of great natural beauty to
call home,” says Ethel.
Today, the couple own Minden
Subaru and have come to realize that
a clean environment can’t be taken
for granted. “As the population has
grown, we have learned that, in order
to maintain our healthy surroundings,
we needed to become more aware of
how we contribute to the environment,”
says Ethel.
The first step was to significantly
reduce the amount of garbage they
were creating. They even consulted with
the town’s bylaw officer to ensure that
they were doing everything possible to
reduce, reuse and recycle.

“An overflowing dumpster being
carted off to the town dump every two
weeks was ridiculous,” recalls Ethel.
They began to purchase products
with significantly less packaging, use
reusable containers, place recycling
containers at every workstation, collect
used batteries for proper disposal, and
compost food waste.
Nowadays, they make as many trips
to the town waste disposal site as ever –
but they’re usually visiting the recycling
area instead of the garbage section!
“Now, when we make those trips to
the dump, we feel like we are helping to
preserve our beautiful landscape rather
than harming it!” declares Ethel.
By taking bold steps to reduce their
impact on the environment, Charlie and
Ethel Muli are providing a fine example
for all of us to follow.

MINDEN

Thirty-four years ago, Charlie and Ethel
Muli made a bold move and traded
in the big city for rural life in Minden,
Ontario. They weren’t sure exactly what

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