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Daily CSR

Daily CSR
Daily news about corporate social responsibility, ethics and sustainability

ASC- Memphis Earn The Highest Sustainability Award



07/13/2015

It is said that ‘at the end, hard work always pays off’; likewise, the company of ASC-Memphis won the Three Star designation for their EHS programme.


ASC- Memphis Earn The Highest Sustainability Award
Dailycsr.com – 09 July 2015 – The hard work of the ASC-Memphis company, a branch of Reynolds American Inc, has been paid with a “top sustainability award”. It has taken the American Snuff Company, in short ASC, situated at Memphis, five years to establish their programme of “Environment, Health and Safety”, in short E.H.S, which required a lot of “hard work”.
 
Nevertheless, the sincere attempt has managed to bag the status of “three-star partnership”, which has been bestowed upon the company by “the Tennessee Green Star Partnership”. Moreover, it is the “highest honor” given to any organisation by the “Tennessee Green Star partnership”.
 
In order to get a recognition from the Tennessee Green Star Partnership, any organisation has be have a serious commitment towards “sustainable practices” whereby they have also managed to bring out “continuous improvement” in their performance “throughout their organisation(s)”.
 
Only thirteen organisations, in the region of Tennessee, were lucky to be able join their companies in the various industries including aerospace and automotive. As luck would have it, American Snuff Company happens to be one of them. The tree stars won by the ASC and other twelve companies had face a meticulous scrutiny, whereby they had to “undergo a rigorous review” which was delivered by various “high level expertise” and state regulators.
 
The president of the American Snuff Company, Mr. Mick Spach, who is also the “vice president of operations”, expressed his happiness, by saying:
“Memphis is very proud to be recognized by the state of Tennessee Green Star Partnership. Our employees have implemented responsible conservation programs and are continually striving to improve. Our commitment to environmental sustainability is in concurrence with our commitment to leading the transformation of the tobacco industry.”
 
Over the years, the company of ASC-Memphis, in collaboration with its “all-around employee effort(s)” received the three star award. In fact, it was on the 30th of July 2014, at a ceremony, that took place in Jackson, Tennessee, the company got the due recognition, whereby culminating a more than five years’ effort of EHS. The drive for Environmental, Health and Safety programme had begun on 29th of January 2009.
 
During this five years’ time, the American Snuff Company roped in more and more employees into the said project. Consequently, they formed various teams which were made on the basis of the following:
  • a sustainability team
  • a water-usage reduction team, and
  • an energy-use reduction team
 
The senior manager of EHS, Rhonda Rogers, gives the credit of the award to the “broad-based employee effort”, whereby she mentions:
“All employees were asked to change their habits and learn new ones. Team members brought their ideas to the table. We even had one member who prepared a PowerPoint presentation on the actions that other companies in our area were taking with sustainability in order to educate the team.”
 
After the completion of all due paper work and their submission to the “Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Office of Sustainable Practices”, the officials from the said department paid a visit to Memphis and were highly impressed. In Roger’s words:
“The state said that we had done much more than expected. They asked if we would be willing to mentor other facilities throughout the state who may wish to pursue this certification. They left with a good feeling about our organization.”