Toray Plastics America, Inc., the only United States manufacturer of precision-performance polyester, polypropylene, and bio-based films, is pleased to announce that of all this year’s recipients of the Environment Council of Rhode Island’s Senator John H. Chafee Conservation Leadership Awards, it received the highest honor. The annual awards are given in memory of the late governor and U.S. Senator’s dedication to preserving the environment and to honor Rhode Island organizations that have worked to continue that legacy.

Paul Urick, vice president of production and safety, Toray Plastics America, Inc., accepted the award on behalf of Toray at a reception held on May 4 at the Providence, Rhode Island Marriott Hotel. The council also granted awards to Rhode Island’s Appalachian Mountain Club trail committee volunteers, the Steel Yard Renewal project of Providence, and the Westerly Innovation Network.

Toray’s comprehensive sustainability initiative, begun in 2004, is guided by a six-point environmental mission: prioritize environmental preservation; help prevent global warming; achieve zero emissions of environmental pollutants; promote recycling; contribute to social well-being through environmental- improvement technologies and products; and raise employees’ environmental awareness.

“This award means a lot to Toray, and we are very grateful for the recognition,” said Rick Schloesser, president and CEO, Toray Plastics America, Inc. “Eight years ago we launched our sustainability initiative and have never wavered in our commitment, nor will we. It is truly gratifying to know that the results of our efforts extend far beyond the bounds of our 70-acre campus and are having a positive effect on the state as well as the global community.”

Among Toray’s many environmental achievements are the launch of a three-acre solar farm, the largest such farm in Rhode Island; the reduction by 41 percent of VOCs at its facility by the diverting of emission streams to a regenerative thermal oxidizer; the diversion of 1000 tons of non-hazardous waste from landfill and its shipment to a waste-to-energy plant; the installation plant-wide of high-efficiency lamps and motion detectors that turn lights off  and save 3.16 million KWHs annually; and the recycling of 285 tons of wood, 154 tons of mixed metal, 65 tons of cardboard, 60 tons of paper, bottles, and cans, 156 tons of aluminum, nine tons of used oil, six tons of oil absorbents, and 700 tons of PP and PET scrap, annually.