GM to Go Landfill-Free
by Jennifer Berry
Published on September 9th, 2008
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GM recently announced its plans to transition half of its major global manufacturing operations to landfill-free status by the end of 2010.
Currently, 43 facilities are considered landfill-free. For GM, this means over 80 of its operations will make this transition in the next 28 months.
GM defines “landfill-free” as ensuring that all production waste and garbage is recycled or reused. In these facilities, 96 percent of waste is recycled or reused, and more than three percent of waste is converted to energy at waste-to-energy facilities.
Beyond its environmental impact, recycling improves GM’s bottom line. Sales of recycled scrap metal are approaching $1 billion worldwide, with other recycled materials such as motor oil bringing in over $16 million in North America alone.
Already, GM has recycled 630,000 tons of scrap metal; 8,000 tons of wood; 7,500 tons of cardboard and 1,200 tons of plastic in its facilities this year.
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