Jan. 2, 2008 Toyota has designated four production sites to serve as prototypes for sustainable manufacturing. The plants located in the U.K., France, Thailand, and the U.S. will expand on the work of the company's plant in Tsutsumi, Japan, which began implementing sustainability programs in July 2007.

Toyota defines a "sustainable plant" as one that achieves the triple goals of emissions reduction via renewable energy use, afforestation and conservation of natural surroundings, and strong environmental peformance through technological innovation. The company says it will create green initiatives for each of its model plants taking geographic location into account, with the aim of gradually introducing similar programs at other plants in the same region.

For example, Toyota's plant in Ban Pho, Thailand, which became operational in January 2007, was built as a model of sustainable innovation in the Asia-Pacific region. Powered by a cogeneration system and solar panels, the plant recycles wastewater and sends no waste to landfill. Toyota says it intends to begin a tree-planting program at the site "in the near future."

The model plant for the Americas is currently under construction in Blue Springs, Mississippi. Slated for completion in 2010, the plant will introduce an innovative manufacturing line for Toyota's Highlander sports utility vehicle.

Toyota has designated its Blue Springs plant as a model that will emphasize the importance of nature in creating production sites that harmonize with their natural surroundings," Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said in a statement. This puts Toyota and Mississippi on the leading edge of a totally new concept in building automotive manufacturing plants that can truly live in harmony with the environment and local community."

For a look inside Toyota's sustainable plant in Tsutsumi, Japan, click here.