General Motors’ Kokomo, Indiana operation is now a member of the Indiana Environmental Stewardship Program.
The voluntary, leadership-based organization honors companies for going above and beyond Indiana’s environmental regulations.
GM Kokomo operations, which makes electronic control modules for engines and transmissions, semiconductors, and safety electronics and sensors, continuously drives to improve the efficiency of its facility and positively impact the surrounding community. The operations are landfill-free and achieved a water reduction of 4 million gallons annually.
Efforts to reduce the facility’s environmental impact include heat recovery, a process using heat reclaimed from cooling tower water to preheat water destined for its water system. As a result, the company eliminated the need to heat city water for its operations while avoiding the use of approximately seven million kilowatt hours of energy. GM received a return on its investment within a year.
The state recognized GM Kokomo for other initiatives, such as meeting the Energy Star® challenge for industry and achieving Environmental Management System ISO 14001 certification. The facility has reduced its energy intensity by more than 23 percent in just 3 years by replacing high-intensity discharge lighting with energy-reducing fluorescent fixtures and empowering site employees to identify energy waste.
Since 2000, GM Kokomo has completed 52 environmental improvement programs that led to reductions in energy and water consumption; waste water discharge; volatile organic compound emissions, and hazardous air pollutant emissions.
GM’s 1,000 Kokomo employees also share their environmental knowledge with the next generation of leaders through the GM GREEN watershed education program, rolled out this year with employees at the facility. Employee volunteers mentor students on water quality through hands-on testing and analysis in Kokomo Creek.
Additionally, the facility is developing local habitats right in its own backyard. A pollinator garden has taken root at GM Kokomo and will provide a home for a number of species.
Published in the November 2014 Edition of American Recycler News