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Waste Not

Say “General Motors” and “Flint, Michigan” in one breath, and, until recently, it would have evoked the less-than-glamorous image of a town devastated by downsizing, as depicted in Michael Moore’s 1989 documentary, Roger & Me.

But these days, General Motors is putting Flint back on the map in a far more flattering light. For a little more than a year now, Flint has been home to GM’s first waste-free manufacturing plant. The plant, which makes six-cylinder engines for Chevy TrailBlazers and Saab SUVs, recycles nearly all of its waste and sends the rest to a waste-to-energy incinerator to generate power. Nothing goes to the landfill.

In fact, GM is so gaga over green these days it converted a second manufacturing plant to landfill-free status, in Buffalo, NY. The Tonawanda Engine Plant – the world’s largest engine manufacturing facility – went waste-free in May. It recycles more than 23,000 tons of waste and converts more than 1,000 tons of waste to energy. That’s enough energy to power the needs of more than 250 homes.

It also means a lot less decomposing trash in the landfill, and a lot less carbon dioxide contributing to global warming. The plants put into practice the three goals of going green: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. From packaging materials that can be reused to recycled oil collected by a modern air filtering system, nothing is overlooked.

GM is the first of the Big Three auto manufacturers to so drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions at its plants by eliminating waste. It was also the first to develop a modern electric car, in 1996, the precursor of today’s hybrid vehicles. However, it lags in today’s burgeoning hybrid market with no vehicles offering this option.

That could soon change. Recent reports have leaked news of a plug-in hybrid under development at GM, which would get more than 60 miles to the gallon. No word yet on when it might hit the salesroom floor.

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For more information on GM’s plug-in hybrid, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org