The company already recycles 97% of industrial waste generated from the production processes in the country and works strongly to achieve the 100% mark.
General Motors do Brasil has reached an extremely important goal in the environmental area. The company already recycles 97% of industrial waste generated from the production processes in the country and works strongly to achieve the 100% mark. Currently, all units of GM in Brazil generate about 163,000 tons of waste per year.
The recipe of success in the environmental area is due mainly to an important work for the awareness of employees within the units, which aims to become recycling a cultural issue for those who work in the company. But there are also a number of adjustments made in those places, for the correct and efficient collection of waste for recycling.
In the facilities of GM, almost everything goes into recycling. Since plastic, Styrofoam, paper, lubricants, metal parts, wood and paint sludge. Some of these materials are turned into parts that are reused in the production process of vehicles.
For example, about 8% of the bumpers of vehicles produced at plants in Sao Caetano do Sul and São José dos Campos, both in Sao Paulo, have recycled plastic in its composition. Some raw materials are extracted from tires, such as rubberized fabric, rubber granules, steel and rubber mass, which serve as input for other products.
The left-over of restaurants are directed to processes of organic compost, which produces natural fertilizer used in the gardens of the facilities.
The whole process of waste recycling of General Motors is carefully managed by specialized professionals from this area, responsible for elaboration of reports and audits. There are at least two environmental engineers in each facility, which monitor the whole process.
The concern and respect for the environment is definitely a policy adopted in GM in all its units worldwide. To get an idea, there is a committee for the area, which, every month, evaluates the subsidiaries on the fulfillment of plans for the environment according to internal rules.