Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) USA Inc. was one of nine organizations presented the 2008 Governor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Environmental Stewardship on December 3 in Ohio's state capital. The presentations were made by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Chris Korleski, Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) director.

 

"This is a wonderful acknowledgement for Toyota, especially our environmentally conscious efforts in Cincinnati," said Jef S. Friedman, safety and environmental leader for TMS in Cincinnati. "All of our associates work extremely hard in the areas of conservation and energy preservation. We're always striving to improve our company's processes for the sake of efficiency and civic responsibility."

 

Governor Strickland cited TMS for its environmental management system and commitment to continuous improvement. Notable examples include lighting fixture changes that saved 13 percent on energy bills, increasing returnable cage packaging usage that saved 7 million pounds of wood and 2.7 million pounds of corrugated cardboard, and reducing total water cost and usage by about two-thirds.

 

Award winners were selected based on a sound track record of environmental compliance and a commitment to go above and beyond regulations to improve environmental performance; a mature environmental management system that has been integrated into core business functions; aggressive environmental performance goals; and a process for communicating with the local community about program activities and progress on performance goals. More information about the award program is available at: http://www.epa.state.oh.us/ocapp/stewardship.html.

 

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of more than 1,450 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers. Toyota directly employs over 35,000 people in the U.S. and sold more than 2.6 million vehicles in 2007.