GM – Making Money through Recycling

General Motors or GM, a leading name in the automobile industry, is using recycling activities to make significant profits. According to the company’s recent financial reports, this automaker makes close to a billion dollars worth of profit through its recycling initiatives. The company reuses all the scrap materials that it generates, and their revenue reports suggest that all automobile companies should follow its policy.

Making profits through recycling

According to reports, the manufacturing business in the US generates close to 7.6 billion tons of waste every year. The Environmental Protection Agency in the US stated that most of this waste is non-hazardous, and thus it can be reused for various purposes, but it is mostly disposed in the landfills.

However, the officials at General Motors manage their waste materials in a different way. Unlike many other leading companies, the authorities at GM reuse most of their waste materials in their new car models. If the company can’t use the waste materials itself, it ensures that the waste is sold to other organizations that can use it as raw materials. Thus the company saves expenses on buying raw materials, and it also earns additional revenue by selling its waste to other organizations.

GM promotes eco friendly promotional items

According to statistics, in the year 2011, GM transferred close to 2.5 million tons of waste from the landfills to various facilities for the production of eco friendly promotional items. The Manger of the waste reduction program at General motors, John Bradburn, stated that GM is very particular about the environmental impact of its activities. This is the primary reason as to why the company constantly alters its policies to reduce its carbon footprint. He said that sustainability is a very important issue for the company, and it wants to develop a program through which it can reuse all its waste materials for other useful purposes.

According to Bradburn, many companies refrain from investing in recycling activities because they think their investments will overpower their returns. However, he stated that recycling projects that seem cost-indulgent at the start can prove to be profitable in the long run. If a company reuses all its waste materials, after a period of time it will not have to invest in expensive raw materials. Furthermore, with better recycling facilities, the companies will not have to spend a lot of money on disposing hazardous waste into landfills. So, if companies form effective recycling programs, they can reduce their expenses and make profits as well.

Source:http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2013/02/21/how-gm-makes-1-billion-a-year-by-recycling-waste/