One of the world’s premiere providers of information about the energy industry—Hart Energy—recently honored General Motors with its Energy and Environmental Excellence Award for the automaker’s progress in the sustainable use of global natural resources and reducing its environmental footprint.
A key to achieving this honor? GM’s comprehensive approach to greening the auto industry. This naturally includes building high-efficiency new products like the Chevrolet Volt—capable of delivering up to 50 miles of all-electric, no-emissions driving—and the Chevrolet Cruze, which can achieve 42 mpg in highway driving. But significantly, the automaker’s efforts also extend to how those vehicles are being built in the first place.
For example, oil-soaked material from cleanup work in the Gulf of Mexico is being used to make parts for the Volt, while recycled denim from worn blue jeans is being repurposed for the sound-deadening insulation in the Cruze.
The company recently achieved another environmental landmark as well. In 2008, GM dedicated itself to ensuring 50 percent of its facilities worldwide were landfill-free by the end of last year, a goal that automaker has now surpassed. A total of 76 (52 percent) of its facilities reached this status in 2010, meaning that all waste generated from their normal operations was being reused, recycled or converted to energy. This includes some 2.5 million tons of waste material last year alone. And as a result of its dedication to recycling, GM estimates it prevented the equivalent of 8.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere.
“It’s all about being creative and lean, and rethinking traditional manufacturing processes,” said John Bradburn, manager of GM’s waste-reduction efforts. “When you think of what it would take for a family of four to not produce any trash for a year, that’s quite a task. This is 76 sites around the world and about 70,000 employees committed to the cause.”
A key to achieving this honor? GM’s comprehensive approach to greening the auto industry. This naturally includes building high-efficiency new products like the Chevrolet Volt—capable of delivering up to 50 miles of all-electric, no-emissions driving—and the Chevrolet Cruze, which can achieve 42 mpg in highway driving. But significantly, the automaker’s efforts also extend to how those vehicles are being built in the first place.
For example, oil-soaked material from cleanup work in the Gulf of Mexico is being used to make parts for the Volt, while recycled denim from worn blue jeans is being repurposed for the sound-deadening insulation in the Cruze.
The company recently achieved another environmental landmark as well. In 2008, GM dedicated itself to ensuring 50 percent of its facilities worldwide were landfill-free by the end of last year, a goal that automaker has now surpassed. A total of 76 (52 percent) of its facilities reached this status in 2010, meaning that all waste generated from their normal operations was being reused, recycled or converted to energy. This includes some 2.5 million tons of waste material last year alone. And as a result of its dedication to recycling, GM estimates it prevented the equivalent of 8.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere.
“It’s all about being creative and lean, and rethinking traditional manufacturing processes,” said John Bradburn, manager of GM’s waste-reduction efforts. “When you think of what it would take for a family of four to not produce any trash for a year, that’s quite a task. This is 76 sites around the world and about 70,000 employees committed to the cause.”
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