Ford to cut waste sent to landfills by 41%

Ford Motor Company has announced that part of its ambitious five-year plan includes reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills by 41% per car built by 2016. This initiative comes on the heels of a separate pledge in June that Ford will reduce its energy consumption by 25% over the same time period. Both efforts are part of Ford’s renewed push for sustainability, which is increasingly both a critical aspect of its brand and a key driver for its financial success. Using raw materials more efficiently will allow Ford to reduce the amount of waste produced per car from 22.7 lbs to 13.4 lbs, saving money both by spending less on materials, and less on disposal of waste produced. Ford successfully reduced the waste produced from 37.9 lbs per car to the current 22.7 lbs per car between 2007 and 2011, in part by sending paint solids to local power companies. Under this program, the paint solids were used as a fuel source to generate electricity rather than ending up in a landfill.

Ford has also found recycling to be a profitable endeavor. In 2012 alone, Ford generated $225 million by recycling 568,000 tons of scrap metal just in the U.S. and Canada. Globally, the company could earn huge sums of money just by recycling scrap metal. Decreasing energy consumption by 25% will save Ford Motor Company literally tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollar every year. These decreased operating expenses go directly to the bottom line, pleasing shareholders and environmentalists alike. Crucially, this increased operating efficiency makes Ford more competitive, allowing it to reduce prices and sell more Ford vehicles.

Sustainability is a key initiative both for CEO Alan Mulally and Executive Chairman Bill Ford, a self-proclaimed “environmental industrialist.” The decreased costs and increased revenues resulting from these sustainability initiatives show that they are not just good from a public relations perspective, these initiatives make a great deal of financial sense.

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Tags: ford, recycling, sustainability
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