Suppliers Partnership for the Environment Honors Five 2026 Environmental Leaders

Suppliers Partnership for the Environment named Visscher-Caravelle, Hankook Tire, The Pasha Group, Chad Pregracke and Alyssa Barbuto as recipients of its 2026 environmental leadership awards on October 28, 2026. PR Newswire carried the announcement from the Indianapolis event. The association brings together global vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to advance environmental sustainability across the automotive value chain.

Visscher-Caravelle and Hankook Tire Take Top Honors

The Demonstrating Environmental Innovation Award went to Visscher-Caravelle for its collaboration with Eastman and Volkswagen Group of America to redesign a conventional multi-material automotive floor mat around a single polymer family. The design combines mechanically and chemically recycled PET and removes incompatible materials that can make conventional floor mats difficult to recycle. The project offers a model for designing for recyclability and improving the potential for closed-loop recovery of automotive interior components.

Hankook Tire received the Creativity in Implementing Sustainable Practices Award for its work with ITOCHU's Project TREE to establish farm-to-factory natural rubber traceability while supporting smallholder farmers. The program combines farmer-led GPS mapping, on-site verification, satellite checks and transaction records to trace rubber through collectors and dealers to processing factories. The initiative provides a practical approach to verifying sourcing origins and monitoring deforestation risks while keeping smallholders engaged in the supply chain.

Pasha, Pregracke and Barbuto Recognized

The Pasha Group received the Community Impact Award for combining ecosystem restoration, employee education and volunteering with support for ocean and climate research. Its work includes funding native-tree planting in Hawaii and enabling employees to participate in environmental restoration through its Green Team and Volunteer Time Off programs. Pasha also uses its commercial vessels as research platforms to support oceanographic, atmospheric and climate monitoring across the Pacific.

Chad Pregracke, founder of Living Lands & Waters, received the inaugural Steve Hellem Lighthouse Award, named in memory of SP's founding executive director. The award recognizes established leaders who inspire others and help guide the next generation of sustainability leadership forward. Pregracke was recognized for his longstanding commitment to restoring waterways through river cleanups, watershed conservation, student workshops and tree planting.

Alyssa Barbuto, Environmental Sustainability Lead for Honda's Supplier Sustainability Unit, received the Shining Star Award for her leadership in helping suppliers build the knowledge and capabilities needed to act in support of environmental goals. Her work has expanded supplier emissions reporting and engagement in target setting, renewable energy and decarbonization initiatives, both internally through Honda's Green Excellence Academy and externally through her leadership in SP initiatives such as Transform: Auto.

"This year's recipients show how sustainability leadership can translate ideas into practical results, from redesigning automotive materials to strengthening supplier capabilities and restoring our waterways," said Kellen Mahoney, executive director of Suppliers Partnership for the Environment. "We are pleased to recognize their achievements and highlight approaches that others across the industry can learn from and build on."

How the 2026 Awards Were Selected

Recipients were selected from a competitive pool of nominations based on a comprehensive evaluation of criteria such as positive impact, innovation, reach and transferability, according to the announcement. The SP Awards recognize sustainability achievements and encourage the sharing of successful approaches across the automotive industry.

Earlier Guidance From the Partnership

In September 2026, Suppliers Partnership for the Environment released guidance on mass balance attribution for advanced recycled automotive plastics, a voluntary resource to standardize communication across the automotive value chain, PR Newswire reported, according to akta.pro company records. In August 2026, the partnership released a guidance document titled "Applying Circular Economy Principles to Automotive Packaging," developed by its Sustainable Packaging Work Group, Third News reported.

What to Watch Next

Hankook Tire is expanding its Clarksville, Tennessee plant, which will produce about 10 million passenger and light truck tires and 1 million medium truck tires annually, Fleet Equipment Magazine reported on October 21, 2026.