Employees of Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI) brought power to a rural village in
India, cleared a stream of silt and sediment in the United Kingdom and
increased recycling by 50 percent in a low-income Minneapolis
neighborhood, all as part of a companywide effort to commemorate the
Company’s 90th anniversary in 2009.
In all, employees responded to Cummins’ 90th Anniversary
Challenge by working on 62 projects around the world resulting in the
reduction of 538 tons of greenhouse gases, or the equivalent of
conserving 54,000 gallons of gasoline. Of those, the top 13 were
selected to receive $10,000 grants from the Cummins Foundation for use
by the non-profit, non-governmental community partner of their choice.
The Environmental Challenge was created to celebrate Cummins’ 90th
anniversary in a way that demonstrates the Company’s long-standing
commitment to the communities where its operations are located. It also
shows how Cummins employees live out one of its mission statements:
"Demanding that everything we do leads to a cleaner, healthier, safer
environment.”
Since the challenge was issued in March 2009, more than 3,200 Cummins
employees from 11 countries worked an estimated 33,450 hours on 62 green
initiatives, ranging from simple recycling efforts to complex carbon
footprint reduction initiatives.
"The response by our Community Involvement Teams was tremendous,” said
Jean Blackwell, Executive Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and
Chief Executive Officer of the Cummins Foundation. "Once again, I’m
proud and humbled by the talent of our employees and the concern they
continually demonstrate for the communities where they live and work.”
As part of the Challenge, the projects were reviewed under a two-step
process evaluating the environmental benefit of each initiative, the
level of employee engagement and the sustainability of each project. Of
the winning projects, the top five were selected for the President’s
Award for Environmental Excellence:
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Rural electrification project – Village of Kohla, India: A Cummins
team developed a way to power a rural village of 65 households by
using Cummins gensets running on a locally available renewable energy
source – vegetable oil produced from Pongamia trees.
-
Solving water scarcity problems – Wagholi School of Wagholi, India:
The project team developed a sustainable solution to providing
drinking/potable water at a school for underprivileged children in
Wagholi, near Pune. The project uses rain water and ground water
harvesting technologies to increase the level of the village water
table.
-
Inspire Orchard Project – Kent, United Kingdom: This project turned a
300-year-old former orchard into a teaching garden for 120 disabled
students. The rejuvenated orchard will offer employment opportunities
for former students.
-
River Chater Bio-Diversity and Habitat Improvement – Stamford, United
Kingdom: The River Chater is a small stream suffering from high loads
of sediment due to intensive agricultural practices. The project team
created a more diverse flow for the river to help remove fine silts
using recycled materials from the Cummins facility in Stamford and
natural materials at the site.
-
Removing barriers to recycling at Parkview Villa – Fridley, Minn.:
Cummins employees partnered with an affordable housing community to
increase recycling efforts at this housing site for seniors and people
with disabilities in metropolitan Minneapolis, Minn. The project has
improved recycling participation by 50 percent.
The other eight projects are:
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A project urging people to replace their cars with bicycles and
increase recycling in Xiang Fan, China.
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An initiative to increase public energy savings and reduce emissions
in Xi’an, China.
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A tree planting and beautification effort in a wooded area of Wuxi,
China.
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The cleanup of a community site in preparation for the World Expo in
2010 in Shanghai, China.
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A water harvesting project at the Village of Chaufula, India.
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A tree planting campaign in Juarez, Mexico.
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A project to clean up garbage and construction waste from a site in
Craiova, Romania.
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Raising $4,000 from recycling efforts and then using the funds to
support a home for the elderly in Singapore.
Based on the success of the 90th Anniversary Challenge, the
Cummins Foundation this month approved a plan for a similar program for
the next four years at all Cummins facilities as part of the
Foundation’s recent addition of the environment to its focus areas.
About Cummins
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary
business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service engines
and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air
handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation
systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins serves
customers in approximately 190 countries and territories through a
network of more than 500 company-owned and independent distributor
locations and approximately 5,200 dealer locations. Cummins reported net
income of $755 million on sales of $14.3 billion in 2008. Press releases
can be found on the Web at www.cummins.com.