Press release:
Southeastern Container “Green Teams” Focus on Sustainability, Triple Bottom Line
Plant managers, maintenance engineers, senior management and administrative personnel from the six Southeastern Container PET bottle manufacturing facilities gathered in Cleveland, Tennessee to discuss best practices on sustainability. This 7th Annual Sustainability Conference highlights SEC’s commitment to sustainability including not only environmental concerns but their employees and social contributions as well. Each plant submitted a “report card” detailing their plants’ stewardship activities over the previous year covering employee safety, engineering/energy innovations, community outreach, recycling percentages and raw materials reduction in order to be considered for the President’s Stewardship Award.
Southeastern Container’s Enka, North Carolina plant earned the President’s Stewardship Award for their outstanding energy efficiency, safety record, community involvement and recycling rates throughout 2016. Representatives from each plant along with guest speakers from the Chattanooga area shared unique perspectives and best practices in all areas related to sustainability. Botanica Chattanooga presented information about restoring urban areas to native ecosystems and eliminating invasive species. Non-profit organization green | spaces shared their mission to advance sustainability and raise the quality of life through training and incentives to educate and encourage energy conservation. Twenty-something year old partners of The Crash Pad, a boutique “platinum-level green building” showcased the construction of their hostel built on the site of an abandoned building destined for demolition. Their efforts diverted 99% of the old building from the landfill, utilizing reclaimed materials to build and furnish the new facility.
Company president Doug Wehrkamp wrote that, “…sustainability goes well beyond our ability to conserve or preserve the valued resources of our plants. It involves one of the most critical pieces of our business…the people that make this business a success.”
About Southeastern Container: Since its inception in 1982, Southeastern Container has supplied PET bottles to independent Coca-Cola bottlers across the United States and Canada. SEC has been on a mission to find better and improved methods and processes to measure, track and reduce the usage of critical resources. Their objective is to continue working with supplier partners, their local communities and the PET industry to make progress toward sustainable goals. Southeastern Container has plants in Bowling Green, Ohio; Cleveland, Tennessee; Enka and Kings Mountain, North Carolina; Hudson, New Hampshire and Winchester, Virginia.
For more information, please contact: Diane Bean, Administrative Manager: diane.bean@secontainer.com
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