GM on Target for Half of Its Manufacturing Plants to be Zero Landfill by 2011
Last week, General Motors announced that 62 of its manufacturing plants have achieved “zero landfill” status by recycling or reusing all normal plant wastes. (A chart listing the plants is available here.)
This significant achievement means that 43 percent of GM’s global manufacturing facilities no longer send any production waste to landfills. In 2008, the company announced that it wanted to convert half of its manufacturing facilities to zero landfill facilities by the end of 2010. As of this month, GM has met 87 percent of that goal.
On average, more than 97 percent of waste materials from GM’s zero landfill plants are recycled or reused and about three percent is converted to energy at waste-to-energy facilities replacing fossil fuels. All in all, more than 2 million tons of waste materials –including 650,000 tons of scrap metal, 16,600 tons of wood, 21,600 tons of cardboard, and 3,600 tons of plastic –will be recycled or reused at GM plants worldwide this year alone.
An additional 45,000 tons will be converted to energy at waste-to-energy facilities.
According to GM, even the smallest piece of waste is put to a productive reuse. For example:
- Waste aluminum generated at GM facilities is sent to GM foundries to be reused to produce engine and transmission components.
- Steel, alloy metals, and paper are sent to recyclers for reconstitution into a variety of products.
- Used oil is reconditioned for reuse in GM facilities.
- Wood pallets are reused, rebuilt, ground into landscape chips or sent to waste-to-energy facilities.
- Empty drums and totes are refurbished and used again and again.
- Cardboard is collected, compacted and sold for making new cardboard materials.
The company is also exploring opportunities to develop closed-loop processes to use recycled waste products from its own manufacturing facilities in parts for new vehicles.
It’s great to see GM taking a leadership role regarding waste reduction and recycling. The company was one of the first organizations – and to date is the only auto manufacturer – inducted into the U.S. EPA WasteWise Hall of Fame.
