We reuse and recycle more waste from our manufacturing facilities than any other automaker.

Summary

• We think of waste as a resource out of place.
• We recycled or reused 92% of our worldwide waste in 2010 (2.5 million tons).
• Half of our global manufacturing facilities send no waste to landfill.
• Our vehicles are on average 85% recyclable by weight at the end of their useful life.

We are conscious about the impact our operations have on the environment. That is why we have an aggressive goal in place: to be the leading automaker in waste-reduction efforts.  Whether it’s one of our 81 landfill-free manufacturing facilities, 18 landfill-free non-manufacturing facilities or one of the many that are nearly there, every site is serious about finding ways to reduce and reuse waste. In doing so, we reduce our impact while encouraging innovative ideas that strengthen our revenue stream.

Reducing

Our employees consistently challenge conventional manufacturing operations, thinking of ways to create efficiencies, reduce scrap and design products with the environment in mind. This led to cutting total waste from global operations by 43%* from 2000 through 2010, and reducing non-recycled waste by 44%^ globally from 2005 through 2010.  
*Reduced 44% on a per-vehicle-produced basis
^Reduced 43% on a per-vehicle-produced basis

Reusing

We like to think of waste as a resource out of place. Our employees and suppliers work together to keep materials in their use phase, and one of our favorite tactics is turning byproducts from routine manufacturing operations into components for new vehicles.

Here are some examples:

• Cardboard shipping materials from various GM plants are recycled into a superior sound-dampening material into 25% of the headliner in the Buick Lacrosse and Verano to help keep the cabin quiet.
• Plastic caps and shipping aids from the Fort Wayne facility are mixed with other materials to make 25% of the radiator shrouds for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups built at the plant.
• Test tires from our Milford, Mich. Proving Ground, thanks to their elasticity and durability, are shredded and used in manufacturing of air and water baffles for a variety of GM vehicles. Baffles contain 25% of recycled materials.

Other operational waste also comes full circle and is often reused as plant supplies. For example, paint sludge from our Lansing Grand River plant has been turned into plastic material and used as shipping containers durable enough to hold Chevrolet Volt and Cruze engine components.

Recycling

Envision a bunch of extended-cab pickups, stretching end-to-end around the world. That’s how many trucks it would take to hold the 2.5 million tons of waste we reused or recycled in 2010. In fact, all of our worldwide facilities combined – including regular and landfill-free plants – recycled or reused 92% of the waste they generated.

Recycling makes good business sense. Since 2007, we generated $2.5 billion in revenue through various recycling activities. We view it from a systems perspective so that we not only protect the environment, but eliminate cost and increase efficiency.

One recycling project we’re particularly proud of is working with our suppliers to convert 227 miles of oil-soaked booms off the Alabama and Louisiana coasts and turn them into components for air deflectors in the Chevrolet Volt. Our efforts kept approximately 212,500 pounds of gulf oil spill waste from entering our nation’s landfills. The air deflectors are made with 25% caps and plugs, 25% oil boom parts, 25% post-consumer plastic bottles and 25% test scrap tires.

We also use bio-based materials like soy and kenaf fibers (in small percentages) and balsa wood (larger percentages) in a variety of vehicle components. Each recycled, reused or renewable material we use meets or exceeds our quality and cost requirements.

We thrive on collaborating with suppliers to come up with recyclable products and processes that also perform well within a holistic business case. This enables us to implement them on a broader scale and make even more impact.  Our participation in the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment--a forum we helped found where suppliers share environmental best practices and ideas--helps us to develop relationships and build our network of eco-conscious parts manufacturers.

Landfill-Free Facilities

When you take a single bag of trash to the curb, you’re sending more waste to landfills than half of GM’s 156 manufacturing facilities combined. On average, our 81 landfill-free sites recycle or reuse 97% of their waste and convert the remaining 3% to energy at waste-to-energy facilities, reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Our efforts are spreading to non-manufacturing sites; we now have 18 non-manufacturing landfill-free facilities.  Our robust reporting system, which enables our plants to set and meet waste goals, allows us to easily share lessons learned globally so we can help other operations achieve goals even if their local recycling infrastructure isn’t developed.

Vehicle Recyclability

On average our vehicles are approximately 85% recyclable by weight.  We work with the vehicle dismantling industry to help ensure the vast majority of vehicle material is salvaged and can be recycled or reused in new vehicles or other consumer products at the end of the vehicle’s life.