Caterpillar Earns Pollution Prevention Awards

Danielle Jackson

Peoria, Ill. -- Caterpillar Inc. has earned the Illinois Governor's Pollution Prevention Continuous Improvement Awards for two of its state facilities in Mapleton and Mossville.

Mapleton foundry employees replaced outdated technology in the core-making process with a newer machine designed to eliminate more than 1.4 million pounds of waste sand from the core-making process and save the company more than $2.5 million annually.

The Techincal Services Division (TSD) in Mossville was recognized for work in three separate areas: one project eliminated more than 1 million pounds of welding waste each year; a second project replaced the chrome-plating process with a high-velocity oxygen fuel process at five Cat dealers; and a third project used virtual reality to evaluate future products without having to create prototypes.

The awards are Caterpillar's 10th and 11th since the program began in 1986.