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.