GM has added two new sites to its growing list of landfill-free facilities bringing its total to 100 sites worldwide. The newest additions to the roster are an engine plant in Thailand and a proving ground in Korea.
The company boasts 33 landfill-free sites in Asia that either recycle, reuse or convert to energy all of their daily waste. There are an additional 45 sites located in North America and 22 more in Europe that bring the number up to 100.
This is all part of GM’s goal of having 125 landfill-free facilities by the year 2020. The company said it is working with all of its plants to see that each has a plan in place to become landfill-free in the coming years.
This company-wide goal allows sites to help each other and learn where they can each take advantage of waste-saving measures. For example, manufacturing plants in Asia determined that about 70 percent of their waste was coming from packaging like wood and cardboard. Two plants there decided to swap out wood pallets for partially-recycled plastic containers that both weigh and cost less.
The result was a 146 ton wood pallet waste reduction in just those two facilities alone. Now GM is looking at using the same plastic containers in their operations in North America.
In the past, the wood pallets, which are only useable once, were generally ground into mulch. At the GM plant in South Africa they even took the pallets apart and then use the pieces to build furniture. Now, they too are looking at the plastic containers as a more cost effective solution and one that allows them to reuse the pallets for multiple shipments.
Other waste reduction measures range from high-tech solutions that minimize sludge from wastewater treatment, painting or grinding, to locally sourcing everyday products like gloves and even simple signage changes that increase recycling.
Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.
