Using Water Responsibly

Phosphate Free Process Water – For North American coatings operations, we replaced iron phosphate washer pretreatment with a zirconium sealer prior to paint. This eliminated phosphates from process wastewater discharge, while increasing paint adhesion. Phosphates are one of the main contaminants polluting the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.  We’ve reduced phosphate discharge by 90%, thereby reducing the total phosphates entering the bay by an average of 15,000 pounds per year.  By reducing phosphates, we’ve both met our McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania Borough Pretreatment requirements, as well as helping bring aquatic life back to the Chesapeake Bay.

Water Reduction – The Leon, Mexico facility utilizes a water reuse system to offset purchasing additional water to wash parts prior to paint. The system is designed to treat the process wastewater, then process it through a Reverse Osmosis membrane, thereby allowing a percentage of the wastewater to be reused again onsite. It is estimated the water reuse system saves about 20-30% of water used for painting operations.  The McConnellsburg, PA facility’s water reduction efforts have yielded a savings of 10 million gallons of water used annually over the past 5 years.  Process improvements in washer systems included optimizing rinse stages and recirculating chemical stages to ensure proper substrate preparation while reducing the site’s environmental impact.

Sustaining Energy

LED Lighting: Over the last few years, JLG has spent considerable capital to invest in the facilities where our team members work. The manufacturing facilities in the United States had a mixture of metal halide, sodium vapor, and T12/T8/T5 fluorescent lights. Our facilities now have been working diligently to upgrade to LED lights. While of course this is a cost savings for the plant, it has improved employee satisfaction and made for a safer work environment.

JLG has also spent significant capital to save energy by upgrading the boilers and HVAC systems throughout our facilities. These have not been upgraded necessarily for age of equipment, but for efficiency and process improvement.

JLG has a strong focus on sustaining energy used at our facilities. There is continued effort to find new solutions and processes for energy reduction. We want to make a sustainable place to work ensuring our energy reduction goals improve not only JLG, but our community as well.

The addition of solar generated power for our facilities is another goal of JLG. We have started this journey of adding roof top solar to our manufacturing facility in Port Macquarie, Australia which generates approximately 75% of the facilities energy use. Also, our Leon, Mexico facility is supplied with 100% solar energy from a local solar farm.

Recycle and Reuse

The recycling market in the United States continues efforts in bouncing back, and new technologies are being developed to increase recycling.  JLG continues to improve its recycling efforts at sites around the world by partnering with vendors and new technologies.

JLG has met the goal set by Oshkosh Corporation to divert 90% of our waste from the landfill by 2024. JLG achieved a 90.6% diversion rate in July 2023 for total waste. Our definition of total waste includes material that can be landfilled, but excludes hazardous and universal waste, wastewater treatment plant sludge and recycled metals. In 2024 and beyond, we are working towards the Oshkosh Corporation goal of certifying 2 JLG/Jerr-Dan sites in Zero Waste to Landfill per year.

It is especially rewarding when environmental awareness also involves helping people. Our used cell phones and tablets are recycled through the Cell Phones for Soldiers program. Each Earth Day, we encourage team members to bring in used electronics from home to participate in our Earth Day E-waste collection events. JLG supports the “Adopt-A-Highway” program and conducts two road clean-up events a year.

Reducing Energy

At Oshkosh, our focus on environmental impact drives us to build stronger communities and make a difference around the world by helping to create a sustainable future. We are excited that we partnered with ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE, Inc. in a renewable energy sale agreement to develop a wind energy site that was completed at the end of 2021 in Caddo County in Oklahoma. This 303-megawatt site doubled ALLETE Clean Energy’s capability to provide clean energy that is high in demand from corporations today.

This is the first virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) Oshkosh has made and the first offsite purchase of renewable energy. It supports our strategic sustainability and environmental goals to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the project will offset a significant portion of the emissions resulting from the electricity utilized by our US manufacturing operations which come from non-renewable sources. Our goal was to have a 25% reduction in normalized greenhouse gas emissions throughout our facilities by 2024 compared to what we tracked in 2014. This goal was achieved in 2022, two years early. This project made a significant impact on our ability to achieve that goal.

The VPPA generated 52,200 MWH worth of electricity that we received credit for in 2023, which is 6.6% of the total generation of the project.  This offsets approximately 36% of Oshkosh Corporation’s domestic electrical consumption and represents approximately 24,554 tonnes of CO2e offset.

“At Oshkosh Corporation, we are committed to sustainable operations, caring for our communities and practicing strong corporate governance” said Kevin Tubbs, Oshkosh Vice President and Chief Ethics, Compliance and Sustainability officer. “Involvement in projects such as the Caddo wind site is one of many ways that we continue to further our sustainability goals.