GM Honors Plants For Conservation, Pollution Prevention

General Motors Corp. has awarded four of its North American facilities for their efforts in materials conservation and pollution prevention. The facilities honored with We Care awards are: the Saturn Corp. assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tenn.; the GM Car Group's Orion Assembly facility in Lake Orion, Mich.; the GM Electro-Motive Division plant in LaGrange, Ill.; and the Buick City Assembly Center in Flint, Mich. The Saturn plant was honored for paint shop materials reductions and efficiency improvements. By rearranging and refining the robotic paint process, and reformulating some of the paint used, the plant reduced paint usage by 59,480 gallons. The plant also reduced pollutant emissions by reformulating cleaning solutions. The Orion Assembly facility recycled 8,005 tons of ash last year from its coal-fed boiler. Instead of going to a landfill, the ash now is used in potting soil mixtures by the Scotts Co. Electro-Motive's facility was recognized for its recycling program that has resulted in 2,450 tons of material being recycled or reused. The Buick City plant also was honored for its recycling program. Its efforts in 1998 resulted in the diversion of 500 tons of non-hazardous, non-metal materials to landfills.