Environment

GM Wentzville Adopts Green Construction

Sep 24, 2012 5:00 PM ET
Campaign: GM Waste Reduction
General Motors and local dignitaries broke ground on the Wentzville plant expansion in May.

From operating 100 landfill-free facilities, to donating 250 vehicle shipping crates to be reused as raised garden beds, GM is committed to waste reduction.

In fact, the GM Green Construction program has facilitated the recycling of more than 150,000 tons of waste since it began in 2011.

The most recent GM Green Construction site, GM’s Wentzville Assembly Plant, has reduced its weight of construction debris by 80 percent, to date.

“We recognize the impact on the environment – as well as the bottom line – of reusing or recycling all materials we can,” said Eric Snowdeal, construction site manager at Wentzville Assembly. “As a direct result of the new standards, we have saved approximately $150,000 in total construction costs.

To date, the construction site has:

  • Reused 33,856 cubic yards of native and excess soil for site development; of that, 25,000 cubic yards will serve as engineered fill for the new building’s floor slab.
  • Reused 6,100 tons of crushed concrete to supplement new pavement for roadways and docks.
  • Recycled 124,460 pounds of scrap steel.

Our goal is to reduce by 90 percent the weight of construction debris per project through recycling and sending less to landfill, as well as reduce our overall construction cost by 15 percent. To help achieve that goal, we will pursue LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for all projects – worldwide – whenever financially feasible.