Environmental Leader

Zotos International, a hair-care manufacturer, has received final approval for a $7 million, 3.3-megawatt (MW) on-site wind power project for its manufacturing plant in Geneva, N.Y. The company expects to start construction in mid-August with the wind turbines fully operational by the end of the year.

Zotos is investing in wind power as part of a sustainability initiative aimed at powering its 670,000-square-foot plant with 100 percent renewable energy by the end of 2011. The company has invested $30 million at its Geneva plant over the past three and a half years.

Zotos’ project is the largest wind project of any manufacturing company in the U.S., according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The Zotos project is comprised of two 1,650- kW wind turbines that will generate approximately 7,500 mWh of renewable energy every year.

The manufacturer will provide the city with a donation equivalent to 5 percent of the wind power generated on site as part of the project.

Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will cover 30 percent of the project’s costs. Zotos expects a return on investment in less than five years.

According to the company’s Website, Zotos also is implementing sustainable packaging measures. The company’s beauty products are packaged in bottles that currently contain as much as 70 percent post-consumer recycled plastic. The company also uses only 100 percent recycled paperboard, and it prints information on the inside of the cartons to eliminate paper inserts.

Zotos claims it will be the first beauty company to voluntarily offset 100 percent of its CO2 emissions produced by its manufacturing and assembly facility. Zotos is owned by Shiseido Americas.

Two large utility wind projects were recently announced in Arizona and California.

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