Water and wastewater

Our tire manufacturing processes use large quantities of cooling water. Mainly, we use municipal water for process cooling in circular system and after usage deliver it to a wastewater treatment plant. In our Finnish factory, we take surface water for cooling from the nearby Nokianvirta river and discharge it back into the river after use. The cooling water has no contact with production chemicals at any stage and, therefore, does not become contaminated.

In our factories we take regular samples from the cooling water and from the wastewater conveyed to the municipal treatment plant in order to verify the water quality. Both the wastewater conveyed into the municipal sewage system and the cooling waters has been practically clean. 

In 2020, water risk assessments were made for our production sites, and in 2023 the assessments were updated. The assessments were done using WWF’s water risks filters, and they confirm that our water related risks are minor and that we don’t operate in water stressed areas. We will update water risk assessment once in every three years. Assessment of water risks related to our supply chain were started by assessing risks based on geographical locations.