Product Stewardship

Goodyear maintains product stewardship programs to address potential health and environmental concerns of customers, associates and communities related to all operations and products. These programs include showing preference for suppliers that meet strict guidelines for effectiveness and purity. Goodyear is always searching and testing potential substitute materials having less health and environmental impact without compromising product quality.

Manufacturing operations are reviewed frequently to verify processes and equipment achieve the best possible environmental, safety, health and ergonomic performance. Goodyear also analyzes both intended and anticipated product usage for minimal environmental impact. Continued transition of the tire market from bias-ply technology to radial technology has reduced environmental impact as well.

Tire and rubber products are intended to be durable, and disposal is not easy. After a product has completed the final stage of its life cycle, Goodyear promotes the most beneficial uses for scrap tire and rubber products. Active involvement from Goodyear has helped reduce scrap tire disposal rates to less than 13 percent of annual U.S. off take, and less than 20 percent of annual European off take. Successful programs, using scrap tires and rubber either as fuel or for beneficial engineering purposes, have significantly reduced scrap tire storage piles. As product quality and life cycles improve, Goodyear will continue to search for even better and more permanent options of scrap disposal.

Material Use
Goodyear is constantly looking for materials to improve traction, wear, noise reduction, fuel economy and strength. Rubber formulations, adhesives, accelerators, anti-oxidants and lubricants are always being refined. Formulations of industrial products, such as hoses, belts and molded goods, must be attuned to the ever-challenging demands of the liquid and solid substances they carry, yet must be accomplished at a reasonable cost.

Goodyear, in cooperation with other major global tire and rubber companies, has embarked on a comprehensive program to examine all materials required for manufacturing tires and other rubber products. This program is expected to validate the current use of specific materials, and to guide the development of new or alternate materials to meet future demands that may be placed on these products.

In 2005, the European Union adopted limits on the content of certain oils used to manufacture tires and other rubber products. Goodyear has accepted the challenge to eliminate aromatic oils in the tires it manufactures within and for its European Union markets and expects to complete this change in advance of the 2010 goal.

Greenhouse Gases
Goodyear believes reducing greenhouse gases benefits both the environment and the economy. Increased energy efficiency reduces air pollution, greenhouse gases and dependence on fossil fuels. It also can stimulate the economy by freeing up resources.

To improve energy efficiency, Goodyear currently operates five combined heat and power plants that produce electricity and generate steam for production and space heating. Two additional sites buy waste steam from similar plants to meet energy needs. Four plants, along with Goodyear headquarters, converted from coal to natural gas, reducing CO2 emissions for equivalent amounts of energy. Goodyear operations have energy audit systems to verify efficiency, including programs for insulation effectiveness and leak minimization.

These and other ongoing efforts have improved manufacturing energy efficiency as measured in BTU per pound of finished product. Since 1990, the base year used by the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (which established mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions), this efficiency measure has improved by nearly 28 percent.

Audit Processes – ISO 14001
In the late 1990s, Goodyear adopted the quality management principles of ISO 9000, and considers ISO 14001 as the basis for the formal environmental management systems used in its manufacturing facilities. ISO 14001 certification is accomplished in three-year cycles. Third-party certification audits require a thorough review of a facility’s adherence to numerous environmental principles, including adoption of an environmental policy; consideration of the environmental aspects of the facility; and setting of environmental objectives and targets. All Goodyear manufacturing plants continue to uphold their certifications.

Audit Processes – Product and Process Quality Audit (PPQA)
As a supplement to the ISO 14001 environmental management systems audit process, Goodyear has voluntarily chosen to comprehensively analyze all processes that assure the continual manufacturing of high-quality products.

Goodyear developed its PPQA system in 2000 to address quality-related elements including engineering, training and communication, rubber mixing, component preparation, building and curing, final finish, product testing and analysis of the technical organization that serves customers. The Goodyear PPQA also analyzes distinct elements that go toward creating a successful environmental management organization.

Every Goodyear manufacturing plant conducts an annual self-evaluation. In addition, every three years, a multidisciplinary team of external auditors reviews each plant’s operations.