For the second year running Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) was awarded the prestigious SJM Flex Environmental Award – the Exporters Club Eastern Cape top annual environmental accolade – for its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

According to the judges, VWSA was a worthy winner because it “not only has reduced the carbon footprint of its factory, but has also reduced the carbon footprint of its products”. “Over the last year they have reduced their electricity usage by 21%, reduced waste disposal by 33%, reduced water usage by 33%, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 14% and reduced VOC emissions by 17%,” the judges said in a statement.

Contributing to the company’s increasingly lower carbon emissions is its new R500 million Press Shop, which is equipped with state-of-the-art energy saving technology. It is touted as the most environmentally responsible and energy-efficient plant in both Africa and in the over 100 Volkswagen Group plants globally. The implementation of the Volkswagen Group strategy called Think Blue Factory is another reason for its lower carbon emissions. The strategy focuses on reducing waste, water, energy and emissions by 25% by 2018 and is currently being implemented in Volkswagen plants around the world. It has seen, among other interventions, employees at the Uitenhage plant preferring bicycles to get them to meetings at far corners of the plant, rather than hopping into company cars.