Railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. is the latest company to join Operation Clean Sweep, pledging to "work to achieve" zero pellet loss during shipping of resin.
While the bulk of the Clean Sweep members are resin producers, a number of shipping and logistics companies also have joned the effort. Norfolk Southern, based in Norfolk, Va., announced it is the most recent Class 1 railroad to join the program led by the American Chemistry Council and Plastics Industry Association.
"As part of the pledge, Norfolk Southern will work to achieve zero loss of plastic resin into the environment," Chief Marketing Officer Alan Shaw said in an Aug. 11 news release. "We are developing an extensive education campaign to raise awareness among our employees and we will increase our scrutiny to make sure the hopper cars we transport are properly secured and sealed."
Pellet spillage at shipping locations has been targeted by environmental groups. In 2019, the Southern Environmental Law Center threatened to sue distributor Frontier Logistics LP over pellet pollution in Charleston, S.C., blamed on spillages at a logistics site.