Freightliner Custom Chassis becomes first trucking industry company in U.S. to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill Status

Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC), Gaffney, S.C., has become the first chassis manufacturer and first company within the trucking industry to achieve Zero Waste to Landfill Status in the United States.

Joining an elite group of solid waste-free manufacturing facilities in the U.S., FCCC went from disposing 250,000 pounds per month of solid waste in January 2007 to disposing zero pounds today as a result of numerous environmental efforts implemented at the FCCC facility.

"Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation easily surpassed our corporate goal by realizing Zero Waste to Landfill status three months earlier than our original January 2010 target date," said Roger Nielsen, chief operating officer of Daimler Trucks North America LLC (DTNA), FCCC's parent company. "FCCC was able to achieve these results by the continued efforts and diligence of all employees within the company, and we continue to seek ways to reduce our environmental impact in our facility and through our products and alternative-fuel efforts."

The Zero Waste to Landfill directive was initiated by Daimler AG to reduce the carbon footprint of manufacturing facilities under the Daimler umbrella. FCCC's manufacturing facility was chosen as the pilot site for the Zero Waste to Landfill program in September 2007 by DTNA. The goal of the program was for the FCCC facility to become 100 percent landfill waste-free by 2010. Nielsen said efforts undertaken by FCCC will be used as an environmental blueprint to be implemented into other DTNA facilities striving toward Zero Waste to Landfill status.

Recognized by numerous governmental agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the FCCC facility recycles materials such as plastic, paper, aluminum, cardboard, metals, wood and nylon. FCCC is committed to not only reducing its environmental footprint with clean manufacturing efforts, but also to developing products that are green. The company's commitment to clean air technologies is aligned with Daimler's global initiative called "Shaping Future Transportation." Launched in November 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany, the initiative is focused on reducing category emissions pollutants, carbon dioxide and fuel consumption.

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