Mercury Marine wins sustainable process award for aluminum use

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin―Mercury Marine received the Sustainable Process Award from the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council (WSBC) at the Sustainable Business Awards Ceremony in December. The award recognized Mercury Marine for several sustainable practices in the company’s process of using aluminum for manufacturing outboard marine engine blocks.

Mercury’s sustainable process for using aluminum includes only recycled sources of aluminum instead of aluminum derived from mined bauxite ore. Discarded vehicle wheels, wiring, and scrap from Brunswick Boat Group operations, among other sources, are melted and purified for use in Mercury’s castings. According to company leaders, recycling aluminum emits only five percent of the greenhouse gas emitted in primary aluminum production.

The die‑casting process that Mercury uses for these engine blocks won the 2018 Casting of the Year Award in the “Over 10 Pounds” category for the sophistication of the engine block design and the execution of the die casting.

Mercury Marine and Evinrude were both also named Green Master companies by the WSBC. The Green Masters program works to identify businesses that have taken at least one action within each of the nine pillars of sustainability. Both companies are based in Wisconsin.