The local subsidiary of US-based car manufacturer General Motors South Africa (GMSA), through its full-time environmental team, reduced the amount of waste it sent to landfill sites by 26% last year compared with 2011.

In 2012, between 9% and 10% of GMSA’s total generated waste was sent to landfill sites. “This translates to about 11.5 kg of waste for each vehicle, compared with 15.6 kg in 2011,” states GMSA facilities area manager Lushen Govender.

GMSA continually strives to become a greener organisation by investigating and adopting methods that will reduce and eventually eliminate the amount of waste it sends to landfill sites. “Reducing the amount of waste material sent to landfill sites over the next three years is a key priority for GMSA’s environmental team,” he says.

As part of the car manufacturer’s continual improvement philosophy, GMSA’s recycling targets are based on the recycling record it achieved the previous year, by aiming to better that recycling record through a reduction of 10% or more, notes Govender.

“Since the initiative was started in 2009, we have been able to recycle up to 92% of all of our waste and are striving to send zero waste to landfill sites by 2015.”

GMSA reuses its packaging waste, such as drums and pallets, and recycles other packaging waste, such as cans, steel containers and corrugated box sheets, as well as scrapped parts. However, its nonrecyclable waste, which includes the sludge generated from the treatment of paint-shop effluent, and some uncommon packaging materials and scrapped parts for which the company does not yet have a recycling process, still needs to be reduced.

The amount of nonrecyclable waste collected in 2008 at GMSA’s Port Elizabeth-based headquarters and assembly plants in Struandale and Kempston road, respectively, was 34 kg for every vehicle produced. As a result of the work done by the environmental team, this figure has dropped significantly to 9 kg for every vehicle produced.

Therefore, significant strides would still have to be made to reduce the company’s nonrecyclable waste by at least 30% by 2015, says Govender.

GMSA has adopted a holistic approach to ensure it has the smallest waste footprint possible. The company, with its five key-member environmental team –two environmental engineers, a utilities representative, an environmental manager and a facilities area manager – works with a waste management contractor to ensure that GMSA does everything possible to divert its waste from landfill sites.

The process starts with waste separation at GMSA’s car manufacturing plants to ensure the segregation of waste generated during the manufacturing process.

The car manufacturer has placed greater emphasis on the separation of waste streams in production team areas, manufacturing facilities and offices.

GMSA’s waste characterisation process lists all the waste streams generated on site. The hazardous waste streams, which are highly regulated wastes, are grouped according to their classes, separated during accumulation and disposed of at approved hazardous landfills, explains Govender.

Each waste stream also has its own safety data sheet that is confirmed by the landfill, in accordance with the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, No 59 of 2008.

In addition to generating about 38 general waste streams, GMSA generates about 24 types of hazardous waste, based on the categories of chemicals used during its processes.

The company aims for its plants to be between 80% and 85% green in the next two to three years. “We are aggressively pursuing the conversion of our Port Elizabeth sites into zero waste-to-landfill plants 2015, he adds.

“The conversion of GMSA’s other two manufacturing sites – the parts distribution centre in the Coega Industrial Development Zone, outside of Port Elizabeth, and the vehicle conversion, storage and distribution centre in the Aloes Industrial Park, near Markman Township and Motherwell, in the Eastern Cape – should be completed by 2015,” says Govender.

This year, GMSA aims to build on the recycling work it has already undertaken in the last four years and continues to drive a reduction of 30% in nonrecycled waste, while also decreasing its total waste generated on site by 4% and its solvent use for housekeeping and production processes at its paint shop by 5%.