Xylem Sets 5% Energy, GHG, Water and Waste Reduction Goals

Water technology company Xylem is targeting 5 percent reductions in all of its key environmental metrics by next year, according to the company’s first sustainability report.

By 2013 the company is hoping to make the reductions in direct and indirect energy consumption, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, water withdrawal, and hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation, the report says. The reduction targets are temporary, stop-gap targets aimed at keeping the company on the right track while it develops more long-term targets, the report says.

For 2013, Xylem says its anticipates developing “more focused reduction goals for each environmental indicator and supporting these goals with specific tools that our facilities can use to meet the goals.”

In its 2012 baseline year the company produced 97,236 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and used 300,944 MWh of energy. Xylem withdrew 30.28 megaliters of water and generated 8,895 tons of waste. Its 2012 non-compliance fines totalled $718, the report says.

As a water technology company, Xylem is perhaps unsurprisingly, concerned with water use and has put in place a number of initiatives aimed at reducing water consumption. In 2011, the company’s pump assembly plant in Calamba Laguna, Philippines cut its annual water consumption by 30 percent,equal to about 1.5 million gallons, by fixing or replacing defective pipes and fittings. Xylem’s site in Logan, Utah, identified landscape irrigation as a “water drain” and reduced water use by more than 60 percent in the summer months, the report says. A site in Canada installed a rainwater collecting sand filter system for its 50,000 gallon pump test pool. This move reduced the site’s annual municipal water withdrawal by 5,000 gallons, the report says.

All of the company’s facilities with more than just office space use the Xylem Environment, Safety and Health
Management System to manage resources and comply with environmental, health and safety legislation the report says. To date, nearly 50 sites – representing more than 25 percent of Xylem’s production locations – have obtained ISO 14001 certification and 20 have OHSAS 18001 certification, the report says. Xylem has set a goal to pursue LEED certification on all of its new construction.

This report represents Xylem’s first year as a standalone company after it was seperated from ITT corporation at the end of October last year. In March 2011, ITT was one of a host of corporations including Lockheed Martin and Honeywell that reached $3 million worth of settlements with the EPA, addressing contaminated groundwater in North Hollywood and Glendale, Calif., two EPA San Fernando Valley Superfund Sites.