GM’s (Metal) Center of Environmental Excellence

Last week, our Pontiac Metal Center was recognized by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality as a Clean Corporate Citizen for its chemical reduction programs, ongoing waste reduction efforts and continued involvement with community outreach programs.

The plant, which stamps metal parts for a variety of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles, has impressive environmental credentials.

In 2011, Pontiac Metal Center achieved landfill-free status by recycling, reusing or converting to energy all waste from daily operations. Nearly all of the facility’s waste is recycled. In 2014, its recycling rate was 99.7%.

The facility met the ENERGY STAR® Challenge for Industry by reducing energy by 10 percent in five years or less. Pontiac is one of two GM plants to have met the Challenge three times. Most recently, the facility reduced energy intensity by 22 percent and avoided 7,684 tons of CO₂ emissions over a 2013 baseline.

Volunteerism is an important part of the plant’s ethos. Each year employees work with local youth through our GM GREEN program to educate students on the importance of watersheds and water quality, as well as organizing Adopt-A-Road cleanups and environmental activities on Earth day.

Employees at Pontiac Metal Center also actively manage a wildlife habitat onsite and are working to secure certification of their program from the Wildlife Habitat Council, which has already certified 43 of our programs – more than any other automaker. The site features a pollinator garden and a variety of native plants. Pollinators – rapidly declining worldwide – are critical to the reproduction of 90 percent of flowering plants and one third of human food crops worldwide.

All of these actions have made Pontiac Metal Center’s environmental track record shine even brighter.