Beyond Now

On Wednesday, we heard part one of Kara Gordon’s interview where she talked about her role at General Motors and her sustainable upbringing.

In part two, we talk to Kara about the sustainable practices her and her husband undertake at their house, her drive to make fresh food a part of her kid’s nutrition habits, and some tips on how you and I can lead a more greener life.

But as her and her husband worked to restore their century-old farmhouse in mid-Michigan, they began to realize that “greening” their lifestyle was beneficial from both a personal standpoint, as well as financial.

In part one of our interview with Kara, she discusses her role at General Motors, her involvement in the Malibu Moms program, and how sustainability played a role in her upbringing.

GM facilities in the Lansing area celebrate their 20th consecutive year supporting GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network) in 2012. 

GM GREEN is a partnership with the nonprofit Earth Force and is designed to sharpen problem-solving skills, improve knowledge of science and the environment, and encourage community involvement through watershed analysis and monitoring. GM has supported the program since 1989; the Lansing program benefits from one of the longest-running relationships with GM. 

GREEN reaches a lot of kids—nearly 9,000 in Lansing’s 20 years. In that time, 50 GM mentors have volunteered to help 351 classes at 19 different schools in the rivers, streams and creeks. 

“It is incredible to watch these young people experience the real-life application of what they are learning in the classroom, many for the first time,” said Stephaney Guild from Woldumar Nature Center. “As an organization, we want to be able to nurture that experience so they continue to be inquisitive about science and their surroundings, and so they grow as civically minded individuals.” 

In addition, the General Motors Foundation awarded the Woldumar Nature Center a $10,000 donation toward environmental education for facilitating the Lansing program.

Waste reduction is important to General Motors, and it has been for quite some time.  So, as our car parts and assembly methods evolve, we’re tasked with renovating our recycling methods, too.

When engines were made of iron, it was easy to use magnets to pick up scraps for recycling during the manufacturing process.  In fact, GM’s Saginaw Metal Casting Operations has recycled millions of tons of metal during its existence, capturing excess material like overpours and scrap castings with them. But now that we’ve moved to lightweight aluminum block engines for better fuel efficiency, the material has been a challenge since it’s not magnetic.

The Saginaw facility was up to the challenge and worked together with International Material Inc. for a resolution. 

Seven years into the renovated solution, the plant has reclaimed and recycled large amounts of aluminum, including 939,000 pounds in the first few months of 2012 alone.

The new process is about repelling versus attracting the metal from the sand. To do so, Saginaw Metal Casting Operations contracts with International Material to sift through the sand with an eddy current machine.  The machine is essentially a reverse magnet that uses an electronic charge to repel the aluminum out, as it moves along a conveyer belt.  The aluminum is separated from the sand into a metal box, and is then recovered and re-melted to make more engine blocks and heads.

“The capture of metal is recycling at its best. It saves money, conserves natural resources, and avoids the landfilling of valuable materials,” explained Ray Ilkka, senior environmental engineer at GM.

General Motors recently presented FTS Technologies with its Environmental Excellence Award for introducing an energy-efficient technology that allows paint to stick to plastic vehicle parts without a traditional chemical adhesion system. The process is used on the Chevrolet Volt, Sonic and Cruze and has helped GM’s supply base dramatically reduce waste and emissions that typically accompanies painting.

We talked to Russell Brynolf, CEO of FTS, about this innovative technology.

Q: What is the long-term impact on the automotive industry as more companies adopt this flame treatment technology?

A: The long-term impact is an overall improvement to the environmental sustainability of the automotive paint process, both at an OEM and Tier Supplier standpoint.  Flame treatment aids in the goal of moving toward achieving zero waste to landfill from manufacturing facilities in a way that does not add any cost to the overall manufacturing process.  In fact, costs are reduced and efficiencies improved.

Q: What is your vision for greening the supply chain and where do you see your role in that process?

A: Firstly, as a company we have to stay realistic and focused on what we do best. Secondly, we must continue to be innovative in both our technologies and process to ensure we stay relevant and sensitive to the fast-changing global automotive industry and the environmental goals of each of our customers. By partnering together we can achieve great things, whether in energy reduction, waste stream reduction, or simply in process efficiency improvements. It all makes for a healthier, more viable industry.    

Q: Tell us a little more about your technology and how it helps suppliers reduce their environmental impact.

A: It provides the means to modify the surface structure of the plastic material, promoting superior adhesion and compatibility with coating technologies. This benefit eliminates the need for primers or adhesion promoters, which are environmentally damaging across the entire waste stream.  You have regulated and permitted air emissions of VOCs and HAPS, or CO2 emissions, and huge energy consumption from the destruction of those vapors in thermal oxidizers.  There is also solid waste in the form for paint sludge, all of which needs special containment and disposal.

As such, General Motors implemented the use of flame treatment technology for the Chevrolet Cruze, Volt, and Sonic.  It was applied on the instrument panels and door panels for these vehicles via several Tier 1 suppliers.  The result was an immediate and significant reduction in airborne emissions and solid waste, and doing so without compromising product quality, performance, or cost.  If fact, it is fair to say that the overall manufacturing cost was significantly reduced for each of the suppliers.

Q: Solvents provide an industry-wide challenge, yet you were able to cut them out of the paint process. How were you able to eliminate their use?

A: The solvent usage in the overall paint process is reduced significantly in at least two areas. First, in the complete elimination of the primer or adhesion promoter; and second, taking the adhesion promoter out of the paint system eliminates the need for solvent flushing/cleaning of those paint lines. Solvent usage still exists with other paint-line functions, but total usage is significantly reduced via the use of flame treatment.

Q: Your involvement in the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment meetings played a key role in getting this technology implemented on a broader scale. Can you speak to the importance of collaboration and coming together on a regular basis to share best practices?

A: Suppliers Partnership for the Environment provides my company, and all other member companies, a unique forum to discuss and collaborate on ideas, projects, and initiatives that can be used to benefit everyone in the industry.  Each member company has something to offer, whether it’s a product or a service.  Maybe that individual product or service is all that’s needed to have a meaningful environmental impact and the forum of companies provides the means to communicate it to the right people.  Or, as in most cases, a collection of companies realize the unique benefits each one offers and collaborate to produce the product or service needed to satisfy and particular need.  Combining forces enables new ideas and technologies to have a meaningful impact up and down the supply chain, improving environmental impact, improving manufactured products, and improving relationships between huge OEMs and relatively small companies like FTS Technologies.

For me personally, I am proud to be the elected vice chairman of SP. Everyone involved is passionate in their own way about greening the supply chain and as such we share, take pride, and gain encouragement in each other’s achievements. When we all come together there are no job titles in the room, just like-minded individuals with the same basic issues and objectives. It’s the only group I’m aware of that breeds success every week, month, and year.

Q: You’re Michigan-based; tell us a little more about your company and what led you here.

A: FTS Technologies is a small company with locations in Whitmore Lake, MI, and Adelaide, South Australia.  Its primary focus is on the surface treatment of plastic parts, predominantly within the automotive industry, to improve properties of adhesion.  FTS has been in business for more than 10 years, but offers more than 45 years of surface treatment, specifically flame treatment, experience.

With Michigan being the historic nerve center of all things automotive, it seemed a natural fit to locate the business here. Expansion has taken us to operate a sales office in Adelaide, South Australia, as well as form important strategic alliances in China. Today’s business environment is completely global, but our manufacturing networks, R&D centers, and environmental stewardships all have their roots in Michigan, only now we reach out to all the automotive hotspots.

You might remember GM’s work to convert scrap Chevrolet Volt battery covers into wildlife habitats—from wood duck nesting boxes to bat houses.

Instead of sending that material to a landfill, we reuse it to benefit wildlife. So far, GM has created and installed more than 150 of them at designated wildlife habitat areas surrounding its facilities, as well as various locations across the United States.  And that number is ever-increasing.

The project is a fun and rewarding one, with GM environmental engineers oftentimes working alongside students and community groups to convert them. The team enjoys spreading the word about recycling and helping instill a deeper understanding and appreciation for nature.

Birgit Keil, a green and cause-minded cartoonist and blogger, recently came to us to learn more about the bat house project. After talking with GM Manager of Waste Reduction Efforts, John Bradburn, she drew the cartoon above. Visit her blog at http://justbeacartoon.com/ for more information about GM’s effort and why swapping out insect killer for a bat house might be a smart, nature-friendly choice.

General Motors is pioneering several environmental practices in its construction of a new engine plant in Joinville in southern Brazil, scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2012. These sustainable features are expected to accredit the plant for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

A plant of “firsts” for the Brazilian auto industry, it will use a solar energy system, introduce the first water recycling process using reverse osmosis and employ a new way of treating sewage and wastewater by a wetland process. It will also be the first GM landfill-free plant in the country.

“We are one of the first companies in Brazil to push environmental innovation into the manufacturing space,” said Grace Lieblein, president of GM do Brasil. “Sustainability is in the DNA of our company, and we are incorporating environmental features into our facilities from the ground up.”

The new facility will be packed with sustainable features including:

• Solar energy to power the plant’s lighting on the manufacturing floors and administrative offices – an amount equal to the energy consumption of 285 Brazilian homes.
• Solar energy to heat 15,000 liters of water per year – equal to the consumption of 750 people.
• Reverse osmosis, a membrane technology filtration system, to produce purified water for drinking and industrial purposes – enough to supply all the tap water used in the plant, saving 22 million liters of water per year.
• Sewage treatment with filtering gardens instead of chemicals, saving electricity and avoiding 3.6 tons of CO2 per year.
• Water conservation through use of rainwater to flush toilets and installing low-flow, sensor-based faucets.
• Waste reduction through use of local materials, certified wood and recycled content in the construction of the facility. The site will recycle and compost food waste.
• Biodiversity through the planting of 720 native trees on the property.

Local GM leaders also will encourage the use of public transportation and bicycles, and include a parking lot designated solely for FlexFuel vehicles.

If successful in securing LEED status, it will join GM’s Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan and its China Headquarters in Shanghai in earning the distinction.  

Chevrolet and its carbon-reduction initiative partners continue to do impactful work on the path to reducing up to eight million metric tons of carbon dioxide through various community-based projects. In fact, one such partner, National Forest Foundation, was recently awarded by the offset-program leader American Carbon Registry with a “Commitment to Quality” award.

The nonprofit American Carbon Registry cited the National Forest Foundation’s work to promote the health and public enjoyment of our country’s national forests, as well as its work with Chevrolet to reforest San Juan National Forest in southwestern Colorado – a project that will generate verified emissions reductions.

The San Juan National Forest project is significant because without Chevrolet’s help, this area decimated by forest fire would likely not be reforested any time in the foreseeable future adding to the nearly 2 million acres of national forests already in need of being reforested due to wildfire.

Chevrolet teamed with the National Forest Foundation to plant 112,000 Engelmann spruce trees to give the forest a boost in regenerating itself. Not only will this help clean the air and capture carbon, but it provides ancillary benefits, such as cleaner water and recreation opportunities. The initiative focuses on a 250-acre affected area that NFF plans to monitor for the next 100+ years in adherence to the American Carbon Registry standard, ensuring proper maintenance and carbon measurement throughout the life of the project.  Because most of the carbon reductions will take place over the next century, Chevrolet has elected not to count them toward its goal of eight million tons reduced by the end of 2014.

This project is one of the 16 Chevrolet has announced.  Excluding San Juan, these agreements now put Chevrolet well over halfway toward meeting its carbon-reduction goal.

Learn more about Chevy’s bold, voluntary carbon-reduction initiative and show your support by planting a virtual tree on your Facebook wall.

Do you know of an educator who uses innovative and interactive environmental teaching techniques to engage youth?

If so, Earth Force and Chevrolet want to recognize them for their outstanding work in the classroom, their school, and their community.

Nominations can be submitted by peers, partners or youth that have worked with the educator. Self-nominations are also welcome. The nomination period closes June 30, 2012 and winners will be announced on Sept. 1, 2012.

“We are looking for school and community-based educators who take learning beyond the classroom and engage youth in the real-world application of their studies,” says Alyssa Hawkins, vice president of programming for Earth Force. “It is so important that we are empowering today’s youth to become active citizens in their communities and their environment.”

The award seeks educators who:

•    Encourage youth to lead their own learning
•    Support learning beyond the classroom to improve their communities
•    Create and sustain local partnerships that connect young people to their community
•    Are formal or informal educators who use their professional expertise to mentor youth
•    Encourage others to teach about the environment

“The GM Foundation looks forward to working with Earth Force to honor the teachers that are leading the charge nationally and educating students about the importance of environmental sustainability ," said Vivian Pickard, president of the GM Foundation. “They are true leaders that provide students with the resources and education they need to be environmentally responsible.”

We encourage you to nominate an educator that is making a difference. To do so, visit the Chevrolet GREEN Educator Award at www.greeneducator.org.

No, we’re not incorporating empty Doritos bags into the seat cushions of our new fuel-efficient four-door.
 
(At least not yet.)

But, from a sustainability perspective, we are collaborating.
 
We’re focused on the refuse in our garbage cans.

“The waste challenges Frito Lay faces mirror ours,” said John Bradburn, GM’s manager of waste-reduction efforts.

Learning how to meet this waste reduction challenge is what spurred Pete Silva, Frito Lay’s senior Director of Indirect and Fleet procurement, to contact Bradburn three years ago.
 
“This partnership began with a phone call,” explains Bradburn. “It was that simple.”

Silva wanted to know how the automotive giant tackled waste reduction at their facilities, because Frito-Lay had a similar challenge on its hands. Silva is a member of the GM Commercial Sounding Board and found his way to Bradburn through this team.
 
“General Motors is well-known for their work in this space, and I know that John is generous with his time,” said Silva. “So I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask if I could pick his brain.” The results of this mentorship have been impressive.

In October of last year, Frito-Lay announced that its Casa Grande, Ariz. facility had achieved “near zero waste” - a designation that means the site is sending less than one percent of waste to the landfill. The site also recycles 75 percent of its water and has cut natural gas use by 80 percent. Through the Zero Landfill Program they now have more than 20 manufacturing plants operating at less than one percent landfill waste.

“Frito-Lay did the lion’s share of the work,” said Bradburn. “We walked them through our best practices and they decided what and how to use the insight we gave them.”

Is this a look into the future of cross-industry collaboration within GM?

John Bradburn thinks so.

He is contacted on a regular basis by companies looking to reduce their waste. And it doesn’t matter which industry they are in.

“When we talk to them, we, at the very least, get them started. And, boy, they take it from there.”