The Burton Warehouse and Distribution Center joined 10 other General Motors' facilities world-wide in achieving landfill-free status.
The grill of a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4WD LTZ Crew Cab shines at Miami Lakes AutoMall in Miami Lakes, Fla. General Motors' U.S. sales jumped 19 percent in September on big demand for its pickup trucks. BURTON, MI – The Burton Warehouse and Distribution Center has joined 10 other General Motors facilities world-wide, including one in Grand Rapids, in achieving landfill-free status.
"Our landfill-free movement is part of our culture of continuous improvement embraced by teams globally," Jim DeLuca, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing, said in a release. "Not only does it make our operations more efficient and help conserve vital resources, but we're able to reinvest the money we get from recycling into future vehicles for our customers."
Between the 11 facilities, GM avoided more than 600,000 metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions.
Sharon Basel, manager of Environment, Energy and Sustainability Communications for GM, said that conversion was taken through a process provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"If you're recycling something, it takes less energy to recycle than to start from new," she said.
GM officials have said the landfill-free effort is to find "innovative ways to repurpose" materials.
The Burton Warehouse and Distribution Center hired a waste technician to help sort packaging waste generated from expanded shipping and distribution operations.
"Our ultimate goal is not to generate any waste at all," John Bradburn, GM global manager of waste reduction, said in a release. "Until then, we do everything we can to ensure it doesn't end up in the ground. From connecting our suppliers on special recycling projects to reusing packaging, we apply lessons learned across all of our operations to broaden the positive impact."
In addition to the facility in Burton, here are the 10 other facilities:
- CAMI Assembly (Canada)
- Colmotores Assembly (Colombia)
- Joinville Engine (Brazil)
- Zaragoza Assembly (Spain)
- Zaragoza Stamping (Spain)
- Grand Rapids Operations (Michigan)
- GM Heritage Center (Michigan)
- Shanghai Headquarters (China)
- Luton Warehouse (England)
- Fontana Warehouse and Distribution Center (California)
Earlier this month, the Flint Assembly Plant was named among seven General Motors facilities named as Neighborhood Environmental Partners.