Allan Gerlat, News Editor

November 30, 2011

1 Min Read
GM Indiana Facility Achieves Zero-Waste Status (with video)

General Motors Corp. said its Fort Wayne, Ind., assembly plant has achieved zero waste to landfill status.

GM said it is the company’s first U.S. assembly plant to reuse, recycle or convert to energy all the waste it generates, joining 78 other GM landfill-free manufacturing facilities globally. Nine GM operations that supply the Fort Wayne plant with stampings, engines, transmissions and components are also landfill-free operations, the Detroit-based vehicle maker said in a news release.

The Fort Wayne plant builds Chevrolet Silverado and GMC full-sized pickup trucks.

 “Assembly plants are challenged with a large amount of waste streams and byproducts, from varying types of plastics and metals to expendable packaging and containers,” said John Bradburn, GM manager of waste-reduction efforts. “Fort Wayne has succeeded in finding sustainable options for these materials while working with other GM plants and suppliers to improve its impact from an overall systems perspective.”

A key for the Fort Wayne plant was making a process and material change in its paint shop that enabled the recycling of processed wastewater treatment sludge that formerly was sent to landfills to meet regulatory requirements. The facility also recycles its manufacturing byproducts into new car parts.

The Fort Wayne facility generated more than $2 million in recycling revenue last year, GM said.

 

About the Author(s)

Allan Gerlat

News Editor, Waste360

Allan Gerlat joined the Waste360 staff in September 2011 as news editor. He was the editor of Waste & Recycling News for the first 16 years of its history, and under his guidance the publication won 27 national and regional awards.

Before Waste & Recycling News, Allan worked at another Crain Communications publication, Rubber & Plastics News, which covers rubber product manufacturing. He began with the publication as associate editor and eventually became managing editor, a position he held for nine years.

Allan is a graduate of Ohio University, where he earned a BS in journalism. He is based in Sagamore Hills, in northeast Ohio.

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