How We’re Driving Change
Our Plan
Our aim is to minimize manufacturing and production waste, helping to reduce the overall environmental impact of our operations. Our global waste-reduction plan outlines how we will seek to avoid waste to landfill wherever practicable, through the efficient use of resources and by developing closed-loop recycling processes.
Going for Zero
When a facility acquires the zero waste to landfill (ZWTL) status, it means that absolutely no manufacturing waste from the facility goes to landfill sites. Our current major waste streams include wastewater sludge; recovered paint solids; packaging waste; and used oils and waste solvent.
To ensure that even more of our plants and facilities reach ZWTL status, we continue to implement a range of waste-reduction initiatives. These include:
- Investing in new technologies and programs that minimize waste
- Standardizing how we track and sort waste to aid recycling and reuse
- Identifying and focusing on the five main sources of waste to landfill at each facility
- Working with suppliers to increase their use of eco-friendly packaging
Meeting Our Waste Targets
To continue to reduce the amount of landfill waste associated with vehicle production, we set ourselves a challenging target: to reduce waste to landfill by 40 percent per vehicle between 2011 and 2016. We reduced waste to landfill on a per-vehicle basis by 18 percent last year, and by 61 percent over the last five years, significantly exceeding our target.
Around the world, our facilities sent 21,000 metric tons of waste to landfill – a decrease of 42 percent from 2013; production increased by 0.7 percent over the same period.
