Waste Management

Ford's environmental goals include reducing the amount and toxicity of manufacturing-related wastes and ultimately eliminating the disposal of waste in landfills. Manufacturing byproducts include both hazardous and nonhazardous wastes. Ford has chosen to target eliminating the landfill of hazardous waste first, because this provides the quickest and most cost-effective benefits to human health and the environment.

In 2009, Ford facilities globally sent approximately 70,000 metric tons of waste to landfill, a decrease of 21 percent compared to 2008. Also in 2009, Ford facilities globally generated approximately 38,000 metric tons of hazardous waste, a decrease of more than 21 percent from 2008.

Seven of our facilities globally have achieved zero waste to landfill: the Windsor Engine Plant in Ontario, Canada; the Van Dyke Transmission Plant and Rawsonville Engine Plant in Michigan; the Cologne, Germany, manufacturing facilities, including the Engine and Vehicle Operations plants, technology development center and Ford Customer Service Division facility; the Saarlouis Body and Assembly Plant in Germany; and our assembly plant in India.

Ford India was declared winner of Ford's 2009 Asia Pacific and Africa Environmental Leadership Award for its "zero waste to landfill" initiative. The project was recognized as the leading green initiative in the region because it eliminates the disposal of materials to landfill and provides waste as an alternative fuel to the cement industry, thereby reducing demand for nonrenewable resources.

Managers at all of our plants strive continually to increase their waste recycling. Ford's Geelong foundry in Australia, for example, has developed processes to recycle foundry sand, scrap steel and process water. These recycling efforts are saving the plant almost $900,000 annually. The foundry is one of the few facilities in the world that does not buy any steel or pig iron from external recyclers. Instead, the facility uses recycled scrap steel generated by Ford's nearby stamping plant. To use this scrap steel, which has been coated with zinc rust-proofing materials, the foundry developed a new melting process that makes it possible to reuse the metal scraps without impacting the environment. The facility has begun to recycle process water in a closed-loop system that allows water to be reused again and again. The foundry also developed a process to separate metal and different sand components from used foundry sand. Metals are melted down and fed back into the foundry process, while used sands are shipped off for use in cement manufacturing and road building.

In 2009, our Ohio Assembly Plant formed a cross-functional team with the goal of reducing expendable packaging waste. This team consisted of staff from the facility's environmental, material planning and logistics, janitorial, purchasing, finance, and maintenance and production functions. The team targeted major waste streams such as shrinkwrap, fiberboard drums, baled cardboard, gaylord boxes and plastics. Process flows were created for each of these targeted streams, which enabled the team to identify obstacles to waste reduction and put action plans in place. Comparing the months of January through August, compactor waste was reduced by 20 percent from 2008 to 2009, and total waste to landfill was reduced by 31 percent.

In Europe, our Dagenham facility has implemented waste-reduction and increased recycling efforts that have prevented more than 12,600 metric tons of waste from being sent to landfills for disposal. For example, metal filings and other waste from the machining process are squeezed dry of lubricants and then sold as briquettes for recycling. In addition, 20,000 square meters of floor concrete removed to install new engine lines was reused in the flooring of the new production line.

Our Dunton facility in England has initiated a waste management contract whereby all site general waste materials (450 metric tons in 2009) are recycled via a "materials recovery facility" instead of going direct to landfill, resulting in at least a 90 percent recycling rate. Dunton continues to segregate and recycle 100 percent of metal, paper, wood, cardboard, vehicles and parts, as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment.