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Sustainable Auto Manufacturing: Driving GM’s Landfill-Free Initiative
Republic Services has helped GM work toward making its facilities 100% landfill-free.Byline: BTB Editor
April 17, 2024 / Time to read: 5 minMore and more, regulations are pushing auto manufacturers to make more sustainable vehicles. That means greater fuel efficiency with fewer emissions. But for some auto manufacturers, like General Motors (GM), sustainable vehicles also means
General Motors' Drive Towards Zero Landfill
Back in 2013, GM manufactured 9.7 million vehicles. Making that many cars and trucks can create a lot of waste, especially:
- Scrap metal
- Lead-acid batteries
- Lead wheel weights
- Cleaners
- Used oil, filters and sorbents
- Rags, towels and paper towels contaminated with various chemicals
- Chemicals like antifreeze (
glycol ) and refrigerants - Fluorescent lamps
- Packaging, like plastic and cardboard
But GM wanted to change that. The company decided to eliminate all waste from its manufacturing process by recycling and reusing everything it could. Its goal was to have 125 zero-landfill facilities by 2020. They turned to US Ecology, a recent Republic Services acquisition, to help them with an older, particularly challenging facility
Rochester's Landmark Achievement: 109th Landfill-Free Operation
The
Our manufacturing experts began by auditing the facility’s needs and discovered that making the facility zero landfill to align with GM’s goals was indeed possible, if challenging. And nearly 10 years later, the Rochester plant is running strong and landfill free. It produced a
Teamwork Makes the Green Work: Republic Services's Role
To transform Rochester into an eco-friendly manufacturing site, we suggested a three-pronged approach that leveraged the principles of reuse, recycling and reduction. It took four years to fully implement. The approach included changing processes, adding onsite equipment and, of course, a human element
To motivate workers to recycle, signage went up at the facility. Signs reminded employees that GM receives 2 cents per pound of recycled cardboard but spends 3 cents to send a pound of it to a landfill. The result? The Rochester facility recycled 115 tons of cardboard — twice as much as the previous year — and avoided 950 cubic yards of landfill space.
Unlock Sustainable Benefits with Republic Services
We’re happy to have helped GM smash its goal — they achieved 142 landfill-free facilities by 2018. By 2023, GM had already surpassed its next goal, achieving 90% diversion of operational waste from landfills, incinerators, and energy recovery facilities by 2025. And we’ll be ready to help them with whatever comes next.
If you have eco-friendly manufacturing goals, we can help. We’ll work with you on a custom plan to achieve your goals, whether they’re small, incremental improvements or big, ambitious ones like GM’s waste reduction targets. And we’ll help you implement it with onsite equipment, transportation, remediation, recycling, reuse and disposal of solid or hazardous waste.
