Park 500 Plant Reduces Impact on James

Philip Morris USA’s Park 500 facility sits on about 500 acres along the James River in Chesterfield County. The Park 500 facility opened in 1975 to reuse tobacco materials discarded during the manufacturing process. By its nature a recycling facility, Park 500 processes small pieces of tobacco from other PM USA facilities into large sheets of tobacco. The water used during this process is treated in an on-site treatment plant before being discharged into the James River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay.

The treated water contains nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that are naturally present in agricultural products like tobacco. Although nutrients are necessary to sustain a healthy water environment, excessive levels of these nutrients in water ecosystems can cause algae blooms and other adverse impacts on aquatic life, impairing healthy rivers and bays.

Since 2001, PM USA has successfully reduced total nitrogen loadings to the James River by evaluating and instituting operational changes to the Park 500 facility’s wastewater treatment plant. PM USA has voluntarily reduced total nitrogen loadings to the river by 46 percent between 2001 and 2006.

To further reduce the environmental impact of their business, the company identified an innovative method known as a natural treatment system, or engineered wetlands, that would further reduce the level of nutrients in the wastewater discharge from Park 500 into the James River. Although natural treatment systems have been successful in further reducing nutrient levels for industrial and municipal facilities in other states, they are relatively new in Virginia.

The natural treatment system supplements the existing wastewater treatment plant at the Park 500 facility. Treated water from the on-site treatment plant will be routed through the established wetlands and microbes and other natural processes will further reduce the nutrient levels in the water before it is returned to the river.