GM Donation Helps Clean Historic Site with Trees

Very soon, trees planted at a historic industrial site in Flint once operated by General Motors will be used to eliminate heavy metals, pesticides, and other types of pollution, merely by being in the ground. The process is called phytoremediation.

GM provided city leaders in Flint $10,000 to purchase and plant the trees at the site.

“For the better part of a century, this site played an important part in the growth of General Motors,” said Terri Burden, plant manager at Flint Engine Operations. “Now, we – the men and women of GM in Flint – have an opportunity to help transform this former industrial site into an environmental remediation model.”

The city of Flint plans to use the site, commonly called Chevy in the Hole, to create massive green space along the river, opening it up for recreational and, educational uses.

GM’s contribution to repurposing the site continues its long-standing relationship with Flint’s Genesee County. GM employs 7,500 people at five manufacturing facilities and at GM Customer Care & Aftersales’ world headquarters and two distribution centers.

Resource preservation activities are common throughout GM, from tree-planting initiatives with local communities to managing more than 2,600 acres of wildlife habitat  throughout its facilities around the world.